Recovery: From the Other Side (Celtic Thunder)
by BarbT
Summary: This is a companion story to "Recovery". The same incident, seen primarily through the eyes of Ryan's family, the CT family, and the medical staff.
1. Chapter 1

Dermot was relaxing at the fire station when the tones for his ambulance went off. Hopping into the rig and checking the address, he stopped dead and then muttered "Damn!"

"What's wrong?" asked his partner, Tommy.

"That's my mate Ryan's house. God, I hope he's OK..."

"Your mate that's the big time singer and is in America all the time?" Tommy asked as he headed out towards the address.

"Aye." Dermot was worried. Either it was Ryan or one of his parents, and in either case it was going to be bad for Ryan. His fears were confirmed when they arrived at the house and found Mr. Kelly, Ryan's father, waiting for them. It had to be Ryan. If it had been Mrs. Kelly, Ryan's father would have been with his wife.

Dermot swas out of the ambulance almost before it stopped, grabbing his jump kit. "What's happened, Mr. Kelly?" He could see the despair in the older man's eyes.

"It's Ryan," he said. "He must have fallen down the stairs, and he's unconscious, he's not responding to us at all! Please hurry!"

"Tommy, we're going to need trauma supplies," Dermot called to his partner. "Probably head or spinal injury." He was fighting to keep himself in professional mode, as he knew if he lost control he couldn't do anything for Ryan. He could have called for another crew member, but he didn't want to waste time.

Tommy grabbed the backboard and the other immobilization supplies and hurried up the walk to join the other two. As he arrived, he heard Dermot say, "Then you weren't here when it happened?"

"No," Mr. Kelly said wretchedly as they hurried into the house. "Ryan was supposed to join us for dinner. He didn't show up, so we called, and when he didn't answer his phone either, we got worried. So we came over, and found him..." He gulped down a sob, "Lying at the foot of the stairs unconscious."

"Any idea when it might have happened?" Dermot asked worriedly. "When did you last talk to him?"

"Around lunchtime," Mr. Kelly said. "So it could have been any time in the last 4 hours or so."

That was bad news. Dermot knew that the quicker a trauma victim got help, the more likely there was to be a good outcome. If Ryan had already been lying there for hours..."We'll see if we can check social media and so forth to see if we can narrow that time frame down a little," he said as they arrived at the foot of the stairs.

Ryan was lying on his right side. Dermot could see a bruise spreading into the right side of his forehead, and his hands were curling up towards his chest. He could see and hear that Ryan was breathing, at least. "Have you moved him at all?" he asked urgently.

Ryan's mother was sitting on the floor by her son's head. "No," she said, "We were afraid moving him might hurt him worse."

"Good," Dermot said. "Tommy, let's get him on the backboard and then we can do more assessment. We're probably going to need to fly him to the trauma center in Belfast." The two of them worked quickly, getting a neck collar on Ryan and then rolling him carefully onto the backboard and securing him so that he couldn't move. Then they started assessing vital signs and Dermot got more worried by the second. By all indications, Ryan had a severe head injury. "Get on the radio, Tommy, and get that chopper on the way. We'll meet them at the sports field."

Mrs. Kelly grabbed at his arm. "Why does he need to go to Belfast?" she said. "Can't he stay here?"

"No, Mrs. Kelly," Dermot said gently. "The local hospital doesn't have the resources to handle this level of injury. The Belfast hospital staff have special training and equipment for these sorts of injuries. He at least has a serious head injury, and we won't know if he has any broken bones until we can get X-rays. The faster we get him to Belfast, the better."

They quickly but gently got Ryan onto the gurney and moved him into the ambulance, heading for the sports field. By now some neighbors had arrived and took charge of the older Kellys, arranging to take them into Belfast to the hospital and contact Ryan's brother and sister.

The chopper was already circling when the ambulance arrived at the sports field. It settled onto the grass and the flight medic ran over.

"What have you got for me, Derm?" he said.

"My mate Ryan Kelly," Dermot said. "Head and possible spinal injury from a fall down the stairs. Could have happened anytime in the last 4 hours from what we know at this point. This is precious cargo, man. You know what Celtic Thunder is?"

"Yeah," the flight medic said, looking puzzled by what to him was a random question. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Ryan's one of the Celtic Thunder singers," Dermot said. "He's an international celebrity, so keep things quiet, all right?"

The flight medic nodded, understanding now. "We'll be quiet as church mice," he said. "Let's get him loaded and get moving."


	2. Chapter 2

On the quick flight to Belfast, the flight medic got more concerned about Ryan's condition. His breathing was deteriorating, and he was going to need a ventilator soon. For now, oxygen was keeping him stable. "Too long without help," the medic muttered. "He may never get back to the group." He didn't know much about Celtic Thunder, but he knew they were incredibly popular in the US. He had to keep it quiet that he had a celebrity on board, but he also needed to let the doctors at the hospital know what they were dealing with. He didn't dare say anything over the radio, as he knew reporters could sometimes listen in on the channels they used. Any hint of an injury to a famous singer and the hospital would be mobbed.

As they landed, he decided that he would tell the hospital staff once they were inside the treatment room. The trauma team met him on the landing pad and rushed Ryan into the emergency room. The medic gave them the medical rundown and then said, "One other thing - this guy is an international celebrity. He's one of the Celtic Thunder singers. You're going to need to stay quiet on this one."

One of the nurses scoffed. "Oh, come on. An international celebrity from the Moy? You're joking, right?" The doctor said, "What's Celtic Thunder?"

The medic was rapidly losing his temper. "Look, the paramedic who handed him off to me is a mate of his and he's the one who told me. He was worried sick, you could tell. I don't know a lot about Celtic Thunder, but I know Phil Coulter founded the group…" That got their attention. "They've done a bunch of filming for the US public television stations and they're incredibly popular there. Just be careful with him, and for heaven's sake, don't go shouting his name around where people can hear!"

"Good thing Kelly's a common name," one nurse said. "If we just say 'Mr. Kelly', he could probably be any one of a couple of thousand folks who could end up here."

They were now in the treatment room and assessing their patient. "We've got to intubate," said the trauma specialist, "His oxygen levels are dropping too low." They needed to put a tube down Ryan's airway to his lungs so they could get him on a ventilator to regulate his breathing. "I want the chief anesthesiologist in here to do this one, NOW! We've got to go between his vocal cords, and I don't know about you, but I don't want the responsibility for damaging them."

An urgent call was made, and the requested specialist arrived and performed the procedure flawlessly. Now that Ryan's breathing was under control, they could start the numerous scans that would tell them the extent of his injuries.

Meanwhile, Ryan's parents, brother, and sister were converging on the hospital waiting room. His brother Raymond made the discovery that Ryan's friend Mari, who had access to his professional Facebook page, had put up a status saying that he was in the hospital and asking for prayers. They quickly contacted her to take it down.

"We're going to have to call Sharon," Raymond said.

"Not yet," said his father. "I want to at least be able to give her some idea of how badly he's injured."

"Da, they're supposed to be in Atlantic City in a few weeks. I think it's pretty unlikely that Ryan will be able to go, don't you? She'll need some time to get things sorted out."

His father sighed. "I know, Ray," he said. "But let's give them a little time to find out what they can. She's going to be devastated as it is, at least if we can give her some real information, more than just 'he was unconscious when they put him in the ambulance', she'll have something to go on."

"One more thing," said his mother. "I don't want anything going out to the fans until we know more. And nothing that doesn't come directly through us. We need to give Sharon information and let her know what she can release and to whom." They all agreed that this was best - they all knew that once the fans knew, things could rapidly get out of hand. They could only hope that not too many had seen Mari's post.

A long hour later, the trauma specialist came out and asked for the Kelly family, then took them to a private room. "We're aware that Ryan is well-known, and we're taking pains both to be sure he gets the best of care and to keep his presence here a secret," he assured them. "Now, on the good side, he does not have any spinal injuries or injuries to his limbs, nor any internal injuries." That brought a sigh of relief. "However," and his voice became grave, "He has a skull fracture and a severe head injury. There is bleeding under the membrane that directly covers his brain. This is putting pressure on his brain. It's affected his breathing severely enough that we've needed to put him on a ventilator. He is currently in a coma."

"Oh, God," said Mr. Kelly, and they knew it was a prayer. "What's going to happen? Is he…is he going to die?"

"Not if we can help it," the specialist assured him. "There are medications we can give him to help keep any brain swelling down. We can regulate his breathing and, if need be, his heart rate. We're going to be closely monitoring the pressure and the extent of bleeding in his brain over the next few days, and if necessary, we'll do surgery to correct that."

"Do you have any idea when he might wake up?" asked Mrs. Kelly quietly.

"Not for quite a while, certainly," said the specialist. "In fact, it is far better for him if we keep him in the coma for a prolonged period, using medications to control how deeply in coma he is. This gives him the best chance for healing and for limiting any permanent brain damage." They all gasped. "You have to be aware," the specialist said seriously, "That there is a chance that he will never wake up. He could die; he could remain permanently in a coma, or he could awaken but with some level of permanent brain damage. There is also a chance that he could recover completely. There is simply no way to tell what the outcome will be right now. Most likely, we are looking at a recovery period of months or years rather than days or weeks."

The family sat, stunned. The specialist said gently, "I wish I could give you more definite information, but we simply don't have it right now. Ryan is being moved into intensive care. One or two of you may be with him at all times, but family members only, and there may be times when we will ask you to leave the room for medical procedures. You may stay here for a few minutes, and I've asked for one of our chaplains to come to take you to Ryan's room once he's settled."

"Thank you, Doctor," Mr. Kelly said. After the doctor had left, he said, "Now I need to call Sharon. I wish I didn't."

"Do you want me to handle it, Da?" asked Raymond.

"Thank you for the offer, but no. This is something I need to do."


	3. Chapter 3

Sharon Browne was in her home office working on paperwork for the upcoming AC residency, when the phone rang. She picked it up without looking at the caller ID. "Sharon Browne."

"Sharon, it's John Kelly." The voice on the other end sounded horrible - strained and ragged with worry.

"John! What's wrong, you sound awful! Has something happened?"

"Yes." A pause. "There's no easy way to say this. You aren't driving or anything are you?"

"No, I'm at home." Sharon was getting even more worried now. "What's happened, John?"

"It's Ryan." A sob entered the man's voice. "He...he fell down the stairs at home this afternoon and fractured his skull. There's bleeding in his brain. He's in intensive care, in a coma and on a ventilator."

"Oh my God," Sharon breathed, horrified. That sweet, gentle man. "Have the doctors said anything about what might happen?"

"They can't really tell yet." The despair in John's voice was terrible to hear. "They literally told us that the outcome could be anything from his dying to having a complete recovery, and everything in between. They say it's likely to be a recovery period of months or years, though."

Sharon's mind was racing. Telling the rest of the "family", and how best to do that. What could be done to help. What information to release, and when, and to whom. And what to do about the upcoming residency, since Ryan obviously wouldn't be able to join them.

"I'm so sorry, John," she said. "You know our prayers are with you, of course, and we'll help in any way we can. I'm assuming that I can tell the rest of the 'family'?"

"Yes, but we don't want anything released to the fans yet. You may have some questions, Mari put a post on Ryan's professional Facebook asking for prayers because he was in the hospital. That's been taken down, but we're not sure how many people might have seen it."

"I will absolutely follow your lead on that, no questions," said Sharon. "You tell me what to release, when, and to whom. As active as Ryan is on Facebook and Twitter, we're bound to have questions start up, but I'll impress on everyone that they are to say nothing on their own social media or anywhere public. Now, where is he, and what can we do?"

John gave her the name of the Belfast hospital, and then said "I'm not sure how much help it will be for anyone to come here. They've told us no one but family is permitted to visit in intensive care, and then only one or two at a time. I know the other boys are like brothers, and I'll talk to our family about seeing if the doctors will let them in, but other than that I don't think it will help to have everyone crowding around here. It can only draw attention to this. The hospital already knows to keep everything on the quiet."

"I don't think we'll be able to keep the boys away, John," Sharon said, knowing how close they all were. "But I'll definitely tell everyone else to do what they can from home. Please keep me updated, and call me at any time, no matter what time, all right?"

"Yes, Sharon, and thank you. The chaplain is here to take us to Ryan's room in the ICU, so I need to go. I'll call you as soon as anything changes."

"Call me even if nothing changes, John. Please".

"God bless you," John's voice cracked. "We'll keep you updated."

_

As the phone call ended, Sharon broke down in tears. Poor Ryan and his family. And their mutual family in CT. She didn't cry for long, though, as she had so much to do. She wanted to start the calls to the "family", but with only a few weeks until they needed to be in Atlantic City, she had another call she had to make first.

"Colm here, what can I do for you, Sharon?" Colm Keegan was the newest member of Celtic Thunder, only having been hired a few weeks ago. He was expected to record the new show with them in August, then begin promo tours in the spring and go on the road with them the following fall, a nice long time to get into the swing of things.

"Colm, I'm sorry to do this to you," Sharon said, and she could hear her voice breaking as John's had done. "I'm going to need you full time much sooner than I expected."

"What's wrong, Sharon?" Colm's gentle voice was full of concern.

"Ryan's had an accident. He's in a coma in intensive care. I need you to be ready to understudy for him for Atlantic City. I know it's only a few weeks away, so we don't have much time. Can you do it?"

"I'll have to, won't I?" said Colm. "My mate's not going to like me missing his wedding, since I'm one of the groomsmen, but he'll understand. What do I need to do?"

There were a thousand things. Meeting with wardrobe so he'd have costumes. Getting together with David Munro to work out which songs he'd do and get the parts for the ensembles. Getting an emergency work visa and planning flights. Colm made a list, said good-bye to Sharon, and went to tell his parents and his brother Mark, and then to call his friend and bow out of the wedding party, knowing that he was going to be on a very fast roller coaster for the next month.

That chore out of the way, Sharon turned to the job of notifying the rest of CT. She called David Munro to have him pass the information onto the band, Mark Johnson to tell the production staff, and David Greene to tell the crew. She impressed on each of them that they couldn't help by going to the hospital, and that they were not to breathe a word of this in public, and to pass this on. All information would come through her, by the request of Ryan's family. Then she began the awful task of telling the other lads. As she'd expected, once each of them got past the initial shock, each said, "I'm on my way," converging on the hospital to do whatever they could to be there for Ryan and for his family.


	4. Chapter 4

The chaplain greeted them and prayed with them before heading up to the Intensive Care unit. Unexpectedly, he took them into a conference room rather than right to Ryan's room. "Don't worry," he said. "The staff is still getting Ryan settled in, so they asked me to orient you a bit before you go in. An ICU is a very strange place when you aren't used to it."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Kelly asked.

"Well, for one thing, most people expect ICUs to be quiet. They rarely are. There is a lot of activity, and every patient has multiple monitors, all of which have different alarms. Some are simple things, such as indicating that an IV bag is empty or a machine is running low on battery life; others are urgent indicating potentially life-threatening conditions. You'll learn which ones you should worry about and which are minor, but it will sound quite confusing and can be frightening at first. The nurses will be more than happy to answer any questions you have and help you understand them; please don't hesitate to ask.

"I also need to prepare you for what Ryan will look like when you see him. As you'll expect, he's been changed into a hospital gown and has an IV running, but there are other things as well that you need to be ready for. He has a number of monitors attached to him that are constantly measuring and recording his heart rate and blood pressure and the oxygen level in his blood. There is also a monitor attached to his scalp, which runs to a sensor that has been inserted through a tiny hole into his skull to allow the staff to directly monitor the pressure in his brain. This is vital information; as you know, the skull is essentially a sealed box. When someone has a brain injury and is bleeding into that space, the skull can't expand, so the pressure builds up and can cause even more brain damage than the initial injury. This monitor will let the staff know if Ryan needs more aggressive treatment, such as medication to reduce swelling or surgery to remove some of the excess fluid.

"There are two other major things. One is a nasogastric tube, a thin tube that runs down his nose into his throat and then to his stomach; this allows the nurses to feed him a liquid mixture similar to baby formula. The other is the ventilator tubing, which enters his mouth and goes down his windpipe to his lungs."

Ryan's family looked at the chaplain and each other. This sounded terrifying, like a nightmare.

"I know," the chaplain said soothingly. "It will be quite startling when you see him, and I know it sounds quite bad, but it would be far worse if you'd just walked in and didn't know what to expect."

"I expect you're right," said Mr. Kelly. "I know the doctor said that only one or two of us could stay with him at a time, but would it be possible for us all to go in together the first time?"

"Yes, that won't be a problem," the chaplain said. "You all won't be able to stay long, but there will be no harm with you all going in initially. Ah, and here's his nurse this shift, Fiona. Fiona, these are Ryan's parents and brother and sister."

"I'm glad to see you all," Fiona said. "Even though Ryan's in a coma, there is good evidence that coma patients can hear what is going on around them. Having familiar people around seems often to be a helpful thing. Feel free to talk to him as much as you like - tell him the news, what's going on with the weather, or anything else you can think of. You don't need to talk constantly, but let him know you're there and that you won't leave him." She led them out of the conference room into the Intensive Care unit proper.

There were separate rooms, but most of the front wall of each room was glass so that the nurses could see their charges from the central station. Fiona led them to the second door on the left. She paused outside. "He tolerated the move up here, getting him into bed and all the monitors getting set up well, " she said. "He did respond to some of the procedures that were a bit uncomfortable, by grimacing or tensing up; that's a good sign that some information is getting through. Do you feel comfortable going in on your own, or would you like me to come in with you?"

"I think for the moment we'll go in on our own," said Mr. Kelly.

"Of course," Fiona said. "Don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions. I only have Ryan and one other patient to take care of, so I should have plenty of time if you need it."

They thanked her, and stepped into Ryan's room. They'd been able to see him from outside, which was both comforting and disconcerting, seeing him with the machines the chaplain had described hooked up to him. They gathered around his bed. They all looked at each other, not sure what to do. Mrs. Kelly solved the problem.

"Hello, dear," she said. "It's Mam, of course. Da's here, and so are Raymond and Colette. At least one of us will be with you all the time." They all spoke to him briefly, so that he could hear each of their voices. It was horrible not seeing any response, but they had to believe that he understood them.

"One thing I do want to talk about," said Mr. Kelly to the rest of the family, "is something that I discussed with Sharon. She's asking most of the CT family not to come here, but we agreed that we aren't going to be able to keep the other lads away. I'd imagine they could be arriving any time in the next several hours or so. What do you all think about seeing if the doctors will let them in with us? They are certainly as close as brothers to Ryan, and if he can be comforted by hearing us around him, surely their presence would be a comfort as well."

"I'd like that," said Mrs. Kelly. "They're all such sweet boys, and I think it will make it easier on us as well, don't you?"

"I do," said Mr. Kelly," but I don't think that argument will hold much ground with the doctors. Ray, Colette, what do you think?"

Ryan's brother and sister agreed wholeheartedly. They knew that Ryan was used to contact with the other singers, and that they were an integral part of his life.

"All right," said Mr. Kelly. "Raymond and Colette, will you take first watch? I want to speak to the doctors about this as soon as we can, and then your mother and I can greet the boys as they come and get them up to speed." Raymond and Colette settled in chairs by Ryan's bed, one holding each of his hands, as Mr. and Mrs. Kelly left the room to find Fiona.

They stepped up to the central station. "Fiona, may we speak with you a moment?" Mr. Kelly asked.

"Of course," she said, and led them back to the conference room. "What can I help with?"

"We'd like to make an unusual request," said Mr. Kelly. "I'm sure you were notified that Ryan is part of the musical group Celtic Thunder, one of the singers?"

"Yes," said Fiona, "I've heard them, they are amazing."

The Kellys smiled. "Yes, they are," Mrs. Kelly said. "The four other current singers and Ryan are very close, as are the two who have moved on to solo careers - they are truly like brothers. They spend nearly half of each year living, as they often say, in each other's pockets on tour, and they're hardly out of touch even when they're home. We would like to talk to the doctors about allowing them access to Ryan's room. They are as vital a part of Ryan's emotional life as we are, and we as a family think it would be good for Ryan if they could visit him as well."

"Hmmm..." Fiona pondered. "I can certainly see your point. I will bring it up to the doctors when they do rounds in a few hours - will that be all right?"

"Yes, that'll do," said Mr. Kelly. "Now, I assume there's a waiting area somewhere nearby for people who aren't in the rooms at the time? Could you show us there? We expect the first of the boys to be arriving soon, Keith only lives in Donegal, and Emmet in Mullingar."


	5. Chapter 5

Emmet and Keith arrived almost simultaneously. Fiona had alerted the reception desk that there would be men coming for this patient, and they were directed to the ICU waiting room, where they found Ryan's parents. There were traces of tears on their cheeks, but the hugs they shared with the Kellys were strong and supportive.

"Emmet, we figured you'd be here first, since you're closest, but Keith, you must have broken every speed limit between here and Donegal!" Mrs. Kelly said.

"I did break a few," said Keith, "but I was actually in Derry when I got the call, so it wasn't as far. Have you seen him? How is he?"

"We have, and Raymond and Colette are with him now. He's not very good, I'm afraid," said Mr. Kelly. "They expect him to be in the coma for a long time, they actually are going to keep him unconscious on purpose, as they say it will help him heal. His nurse says he did respond to some of the more uncomfortable procedures getting him settled, and she said that was a good sign, it meant that some information was getting through to his brain. She said talking to him and letting him know who is here, and that we won't leave him, is important."

"Can we see him?" asked Emmet.

"Not yet," said Mrs. Kelly gently. "Normally they only allow family members in, but we've asked if they will allow you boys in as well as a special request, given how close you all are. It may be some time before the doctors decide if you can, though."

"That's all right," Keith said. "We're here, and we're not leaving anytime soon. Neil and George are on the way. We're not sure yet if Damian or Paul will be able to get here, but they both send their love and prayers."

"Bless you," said Mrs. Kelly. "It'll be a comfort to us to have you here as well."

They settled down to wait, but it wasn't long before Keith was prowling around the room. He never could sit still for long unless he had a guitar or drawing supplies with him, and while he had a guitar in his car, he didn't think it would be appreciated here. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Have either of you eaten dinner?" he asked the Kellys.

They turned confused eyes on each other. "No, now that I think of it, we didn't" said Mr. Kelly "Ryan was supposed to come to dinner and didn't show up, that's how we found him."

"Well, that's something we can do to help, then," Keith said decisively. "Mrs. Kelly, you come down to the cafeteria with me and get something to eat, and Emmet can stay here; then when we come back, we'll switch."

"You can always count on Keith to remember food," Emmet laughed. "He'll make sure you take care of yourselves. And another thing - have you any place to stay around here? If Ryan's going to be here a long time, you're going to need a place to sleep and get cleaned up and such."

"I never even thought of that!" said Mrs. Kelly. "We packed some things to bring with us, but never thought about where we'd be."

"Your mum would be proud of you, thinking about that," Keith said to Emmet, grinning. He ushered Mrs. Kelly out of the waiting room. She had a slight smile on her face, thinking that even in a situation like this, the boys couldn't resist slagging each other. They really were just like brothers. Then she thought of how much Ryan would have enjoyed that exchange, and she suddenly broke down into tears. Keith immediately wrapped his strong arms around her again, letting her cry on his shoulder. He didn't say anything; there was no point in telling her everything would be OK, because they didn't know if it would be. Fiona found them like that as she came down the hallway.

"Mrs. Kelly, are you all right?' she said worriedly.

"Yes, dear, it just hit me how much Ryan would have enjoyed something Keith and Emmet just did." Mrs. Kelly wiped her eyes. "Oh, Keith, this is Fiona, Ryan's nurse this shift. Fiona, this is Keith, one of the other singers. Emmet is with my husband in the waiting room."

"It's nice to meet you," Fiona said to Keith. "I've heard you all sing, you're wonderful. It's good of you to come."

"Couldn't have done anything else," Keith said. "The Kellys are family, and we take care of each other. We're just heading down to get something to eat, they never had dinner tonight."

"I won't keep you, then," Fiona replied. "It's going to be important for them to take care of themselves and if you can help with that, it will be a godsend." She watched as they headed down the hall, Keith's arm still supportively around Mrs. Kelly's shoulders. If she hadn't know better, she would have thought Keith was another of Mrs. Kelly's sons, from the way he was treating her. If all of the other singers were like that, then the Kellys were blessed indeed.


	6. Chapter 6

While Keith and Mrs. Kelly were eating, Emmet had stepped out of the waiting room long enough to call Sharon. When he came back in, he told Mr. Kelly, "It's all settled. Sharon's booked two rooms at a hotel close by, one for your family and one for us."

"She doesn't need to do that..." Mr. Kelly started to say, but Emmet cut him off.

"She does," he said. "She told me to tell you that she said she'd do anything she could to help, and she meant it. You're not to worry about where you'll be sleeping or the expense of staying nearby; you've got enough to concern yourselves with. And if you haven't got a car here, we'll bring you back and forth."

"That we have got," Mr. Kelly said, smiling. "A neighbor drove us here in our car and another followed to take him back to the Moy."

"Good," Emmet said. "From what Ryan's told us, the Moy is a wonderful place, I'm sure you'll have lots of support from there as well."

"Aye,that it is. I'm sure the whole town knows by now, and they'll be taking over care of Ryan's pets and such while we're here. That's just the way it works."

Fiona stepped into the waiting room, partly to give Mr. Kelly an update and partly to meet Emmet. She told them that Ryan was stable, nothing had changed. Mr. Kelly introduced her to Emmet, and she told him that she'd heard them sing and how much she enjoyed it. He replied politely, but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. She smiled as she stepped out of the room. The doctors were due up for evening rounds, and now she could tell them that she'd met two of the men the Kellys wanted to add to the visitors list, and that she didn't think it would be an issue.

Shortly after she left the waiting room, the doctor arrived. He reviewed Ryan's chart and then went into his room to conduct a short assessment, greeting Raymond and Colette absentmindedly, clearly focused on his patient. When he came out again, Fiona pulled him aside.

"Dr. Reilly", she said, "This patient's parents have requested a special favor for visitors for him." She explained about Ryan's career and the link he shared with the other singers. "The Kellys would like to have the other singers allowed to visit with Ryan as well. They feel that their presence would be as supportive to him as their own is."

"Hmmmm..." Dr. Reilly considered this. "I can certainly see how that would form a strong emotional connection which could be helpful. But I'm not sure we need a bunch of temperamental spoiled artistic types getting in the way."

"I can assure you that at least the two who are already here at the hospital are neither temperamental nor spoiled," Fiona told him. "I've met both of them, and complimented them on their singing; one completely ignored it as he was focused on getting Mrs. Kelly some dinner, and the other simply gave me a polite reply and went on to other matters about how Ryan was doing."

"There are two of them already here?" Dr. Reilly said. "Where are they?"

"Keith took Mrs. Kelly down to the cafeteria, and Emmet is with Mr. Kelly in the waiting room."

"I did see Mrs. Kelly downstairs when I passed through to get some tea," Dr. Reilly said. "I assumed the young man with her was another of her sons, based on their behavior towards each other. I would never have guessed he was a celebrity. Do we know how many more are coming?"

"Definitely two, and I think there was a slight possibility that two others might come as well but they weren't sure if they could yet."

"Well, let me think about it, and see how Ryan does through the night," Dr. Reilly said. "I'd rather not allow that many more visitors until we see how he's doing. You say Mr. Kelly's in the waiting room? I'll go speak to him now."

When Dr. Reilly got to the waiting room, Keith and Mrs. Kelly had returned, and Emmet and Mr. Kelly were preparing to leave to get something to eat. As he walked in, Emmet was explaining the hotel arrangements to Keith and Mrs. Kelly. Dr. Reilly arrived just in time to hear the explanation and to see Mrs. Kelly give Emmet a hug and say, "Oh, thank you, dear, I honestly don't know what we'd be doing without you two right now."

"Starving and trying to sleep on the couches in here," Keith said wryly, which made Mr. and Mrs. Kelly both laugh. The two exchanges confirmed the opinion Fiona had shared regarding the two young men.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kelly," Dr. Reilly said. "I've just been in to check on your son, and so far he's holding his own. I'm not seeing any major changes one way or the other right now. Do you have any questions for me right now?"

"Not about Ryan, no," Mr. Kelly said. "Did Fiona tell you about our request? These are two of the other singers, Keith and Emmet. Neil and George are on their way. We're not sure yet if Paul or Damian will be able to make it in from the States."

"Yes, she did," Dr. Reilly replied. "It's nice to meet you two, and I can see you are taking good care of the Kellys. If Ryan continues to remain stable overnight, I will most likely allow these gentlemen access to his room tomorrow. However, if we do see that it becomes too much for Ryan and he is showing signs of stress, then I may rescind that permission."

"That's understandable," Mr. Kelly said. "Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate your willingness to consider it."

The doctor excused himself to continue his rounds, and Emmet and Mr. Kelly took their turn in the cafeteria. When they returned, Mrs. Kelly went in to Ryan's room to let Raymond and Colette know the updates on their end as far as the arrival of the boys, the hotel arrangement, and the doctor's willingness to consider allowing the boys in tomorrow. When she came back, she looked quite exhausted.

"Are you all right, dear?" asked Mr. Kelly.

"Yes, I'm just very tired," she replied. "Raymond and Colette made me promise to go to the hotel and try to sleep. They'll stay here overnight."

"Emmet, why don't you go with the Kellys to the hotel?" Keith suggested. "I'm more of a night owl than you are. Just bring me my guitar up before you go, would you, or I'll go nuts with nothing to do. I'll have to see if I can find a store that sells drawing supplies nearby, then I might actually be able to sit still for a while."

"I can do better than that," Emmet said. "I have one of your sketch pads in my car, it got mixed up with my stuff after the promo tour, and I hadn't seen you to give it back. I'll bring that up for you, and take your guitar to the hotel so you don't annoy everybody all night."


	7. Chapter 7

Neil and George arrived in the wee hours of the morning, Neil having waited at Belfast Airport to pick George up. They were directed to the ICU waiting room, where they found Keith asleep with his head on his sketch pad. Ordinarily that would have been the perfect fodder for a Twitter prank, but the thought barely crossed their minds. They were even gentle about waking him up.

"Awwww," Keith gave a huge yawn (how do you type the sound a yawn makes, anyway?), then embraced both men at once. "Glad you're here. It's been kind of lonely out here. What time is it, anyway?"

"Half three. How's Ryan?" Neil asked urgently.

"Have you been able to see him yet?" George chimed in.

"Raymond came out around 2 hours ago and I went down with him to get some tea for him and Colette," Keith said. "He said Ryan was holding his own, other than the bruise on his head spreading so he's got a black eye now. We're not allowed in yet, but the doctor said if he stays stable overnight, he'll let us in in the morning. I hope he does. It's awful sitting here and not knowing what's going on until somebody comes out to talk to you."

"I can imagine," Neil said with a grimace. "So close, but we can't get to him..."

"Raymond told him that Emmet and I were here, and that you were on the way," Keith said, "but he's got no way to know if Ryan can hear him or understand him at all. The only thing he's responding to is stuff that hurts; then he'll make a face or tense up." He saw the disturbed looks on their faces and hurriedly said, "They're not doing stuff to hurt him on purpose to see if he reacts, I didn't mean that. Just, if they have to draw blood, or if they jostle him a bit when they're moving him around or something, he's reacting to it, and they say that's a good sign, because the information is getting to his brain."

"Rotten thing to have to be thankful for," Neil muttered. George put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"How are Mr. and Mrs. Kelly doing?" George asked.

"Hanging in there," Keith said. "I hope they're sleeping. Emmet's at the hotel with them, Sharon got us two adjoining rooms. He'll come back with them in the morning, and then I'll go sleep - after they let us in to see Ryan. I'm not leaving until I see him."

The three of them sat there, chatting occasionally, sometimes dozing off for a few minutes, until around 5:00 in the morning, when the dawn light was starting to come through the windows. Tim, Ryan's night nurse, came in to the waiting room to talk to Keith.

"Oh, I see the other two got here," he said. He introduced himself, and found out who was who. Then he said, "Colette asked me to come out and see if you would get some tea and maybe something for breakfast for her and Raymond. Raymond's asleep at the moment, and she doesn't want to leave him there alone."

"Sure," Keith said. "How's Ryan? Any change?"

"None," Tim said, "but right now no news is relatively good news, really. I know it's hard to hear that, but it really is best for him if he stays at a good stable coma level for a while."

George said, "Can we bring anything up for the staff? You lot have been up all night as well, can we do something for you?"

"That's not necessary," Tim said, but George said, "Yes, it is. You're taking care of our brother for us, the least we can do is try to help you out if we can."

Tim laughed. "Fiona told us you were like brothers, I can see it's true. It's been a quiet night, and while that's good for our patients, it makes it hard for us to stay alert sometimes. I really can't ask you to do this, it's not professional, but some coffee or tea and muffins or something would be grand. Nothing big."

"For how many?" Neil asked.

"There are 6 of us on duty right now," Tim said.

"Done," George said. "We'll be back shortly."

By the time they'd collected all the items and come back up, it was fully light outside. They'd gotten something for themselves as well and were eating in the waiting area when the Kellys and Emmet came in. Hugs were exchanged again, and then Mr. and Mrs. Kelly went in to Ryan's room and sent Raymond and Colette out. They were both exhausted, and it was agreed that Emmet would drive them back to the hotel in Raymond's car, with Neil following to bring him back to the hospital. By the time Emmet and Neil got back, the doctors were doing morning rounds, and the boys waited impatiently to see if they would be allowed in to see Ryan. Finally Dr. Reilly came to the waiting room, accompanied by Mr. Kelly.

"Good morning, gentlemen," he said, introducing himself to Neil and George. "I'm happy to say that Ryan's come through the night with only some minor changes, nothing too terribly concerning at the moment. We've agreed that the four of you will be treated as brothers and allowed to be in Ryan's room with him, although we're still limiting the number of people in the room at any one time to two."

"Thank you," George said. "Would it be all right if we all went in just for a minute to see him and let him know we're here? At least a couple of us are going to need to go and sleep then anyway, but I'm afraid we won't rest very well until we've seen him."

"I'd already asked," said Mr. Kelly with a smile. "Dr. Reilly said we'd wait to see what you wanted to do, but I told him you'd want to go together. Mrs. Kelly is in there now and she'll stay in there with whoever else decides to stay for a bit. We can sort out who'll be where and when later."

Dr. Reilly gave them a quick run-down of what to expect, much as the chaplain had given the Kellys when they first arrived, and then led them to the door to Ryan's room. The four men looked in, then looked at each other and, without a word needing to be said, clasped their four hands together in the middle of their circle as they did before a show, and went in.


	8. Chapter 8

It was heartbreaking to see Ryan lying there so still, his face badly bruised and all the tubes and wires attached to him. Mrs. Kelly was holding his left hand, and they vaguely noticed that Ryan's right hand was in an odd position, his elbow bent, hand palm up, but with the wrist bent and the hand in a loose fist. Mrs. Kelly got up to give Neil and George hugs, and when they looked back at Ryan, they saw his left hand had moved into the same position as his right.

"Why are his hands like that?" Keith wondered, not realizing he'd spoken aloud.

Mrs. Kelly looked at Ryan sadly. "It's because of the brain injury, they tell us. Somehow the pressure in his brain is telling some muscles to pull tighter than others, and it moves his hands into that position. His toes are pointing down, too, like he's standing on his tiptoes. It's a little more obvious than it was when we left last night, and a little harder to pull his hands out of it. Dr. Reilly said that therapists will be up today to make splints for his hands and feet to keep them stretched out - apparently they could get stuck like this if they don't."

Neil shook his head. "I hope it doesn't hurt him," he said. "But getting his hands and feet stuck like that and not being able to move them when he wakes up would be worse, I guess." The boys were realizing that this injury was more than just Ryan being unconscious; it was affecting his whole body.

"We're not going to be able to stay long," George said. "Emmet, you've had the most sleep, and I got some before I got on the plane. Why don't you stay in here for now, and I'll stay in the waiting room; then Neil and Keith can go back to the hotel and get some sleep, and take over later." They all agreed that this sounded like a good plan. Then George suggested they pray for Ryan. Joining hands, Keith holding one of Ryan's hands and Mrs. Kelly the other, George said a brief prayer. Somehow the "Amen" at the end turned into a sung chord. Mrs. Kelly was watching Ryan's face, and she was sure she saw his face shift slightly, and felt his hand relax just a bit as the familiar harmony surrounded them.

"I think he heard you," she whispered, tears slowly running down her face. "He seemed to relax just a bit when you were singing." This prompted sad smiles from the boys, all hoping she was right and not seeing what she wanted to see.

Nadine, Ryan's day nurse, came in then. "That chord was beautiful," she said. "Everyone in the ICU just stopped and listened to it. Unfortunately I have to ask most of you to go out now." With the exception of Emmet, the boys filed out, George going back to the waiting room to stay with Mr. Kelly, while Neil and Keith headed to the hotel.

On the way back to the hotel, Neil said, "Do you really think he heard us? I hope so, but it seems so unlikely from what they've told us before." His voice sounded very depressed, almost hopeless.

"I don't know," Keith said slowly. "I didn't feel anything change, but Mrs. Kelly's been holding his hand longer, she'd be more likely to notice a change. To me his hand just felt stiff, I had to pull a little to get his fingers open."

While Emmet was sitting with Mrs. Kelly, two physical therapists came in holding a box of what looked like supplies for making casts. They introduced themselves, and explained that they were going to make the splints for Ryan's feet.

"It looks like you're putting casts on him," Mrs. Kelly said, puzzled.

"We are, but then we'll take them right off, cover the rough edges, and put straps on them, so they can be taken on and off easily. By doing them this way, we know they will fit him exactly and not cause pressure sores. We'll just need one of the nurse's aides to help hold his leg up, this is a multi-hand process to get everything in the right position."

"Can I help?" Emmet asked. "That way you won't have to tie up one of the aides."

"Certainly, if you'd like. Just be careful not to let the casting material touch your clothes, it'll stick and the fiberglass will never come out. You'll need gloves to make sure it doesn't get on your skin, either."

The two therapists showed Emmet how to support Ryan's leg, with his knee bent. Then one therapist held his foot in position, as if it were flat on the floor. Over a piece of fabric tubing, they wrapped layers of cotton padding, then several layers of fiberglass. Once the fiberglass had dried hard, they used a special saw to cut the cast off, then repeated the process with Ryan's other leg. Once that one was off, one therapist left. The other began pulling the fabric liner in each cast piece tight and taping it down overlapping the edges of the cast, making a smooth edge, then added velcro straps and marked each set for right and left leg. In about an hour, they had made two custom fitted splints. Placing them on Ryan's feet, the therapist smiled and said, "Thanks, that was a huge help. You did a great job. These will be on for two hours and off for two hours throughout the day and night. The nurses will let us know if he gets any red areas from them, then we might have to add more padding or redo them, but I think we got good molds. We'll be coming up every day to stretch his muscles, too."

Emmet said gratefully, "I'm glad I could help, it feels like I can do something for Ryan. That was fascinating, watching you do that." The therapist smiled and left.

Nadine was in regularly to check on Ryan's machines and to shift his position, sometimes on his back, or partially on one side or the other, using pillows to prop him in position and to keep his elbows and knees in the positions they wanted. Since he couldn't move himself, they needed to keep changing his position so he didn't always have pressure on the same areas of his body, which would cause bedsores.

Around lunchtime, George and Mr. Kelly switched places with them, and Emmet took Mrs. Kelly down to eat lunch. George and Mr. Kelly were there when two occupational therapists came in to make hand splints. Rather than the casting material, they used a special plastic which they could soften in a hot water bath and mold around Ryan's arms and hands. George was able to help this time by supporting Ryan's arms. These splints too would be used two hours on and two hours off, alternating with the foot splints, and these therapists, too, would be coming every day to keep Ryan's muscles stretched out.


	9. Chapter 9

Over the next few days a schedule was established - two of the boys were at the hospital at all times, cycling through the waiting area and Ryan's room. Emmet continued to take the morning shifts in Ryan's room, with George following him. Neil took the evening shifts, and Keith the overnights. Whoever was next to go into to Ryan's room was in the waiting area for the shift before. Updates were given to Sharon at the end of each shift, although there was little to say.

The staff grew fond of the boys very quickly - they helped wherever they could, with moving Ryan, opening doors for someone with full hands, bringing things back from the cafeteria, and even helping other families when needed. The staff never needed to worry about the Kellys, and if another family was not getting support, a quick word to the boys would make sure that that family got food and support as well. Even Dr. Reilly had to admit that there was not a spoiled or temperamental bone in any of the boys' bodies and was heard to say on one occasion that the unit was functioning very smoothly indeed with them there. The boys were accepted as Ryan's brothers and even included in medical updates.

The boys found it good to have something to do, as all they could do for Ryan was watch his muscles grow gradually tighter each day. They all felt very helpless to do anything for him, and so they concentrated on anyone else they could help.

Two days after the boys had been let in, George and Raymond were in Ryan's room and Neil in the waiting area when one of Ryan's alarms sounded, harsh and urgent. They'd grown used to the gentler sounds indicating that a feeding bag or IV bag was empty. George and Raymond backed against the wall as Nadine hurried in. She silenced the alarm, reading the blinking number on the monitor with dismay. She turned hurriedly to them. "I'm going to need to ask you to leave the room, we need to do some urgent assessment. The pressure in Ryan's brain has suddenly jumped too high. I'll come out to update you as soon as I can."

Raymond and George stumbled into the waiting room, almost in shock. As bad as the days of minimal change had been, they suddenly realized they'd take them back in a heartbeat. The rest of the Kellys and Neil surrounded them. "What's wrong?" Mr. Kelly asked urgently.

"The alarm on Ryan's brain pressure monitor went off," Raymond said. "It's been increasing slowly, but Nadine said it suddenly increased, and they need to do some assessments, and she'd let us know what was happening as soon as she could." Texts were immediately sent to Keith and Emmet, and to Sharon as well, and the boys and the Kellys huddled together, praying as they waited for news. Keith and Emmet arrived as soon as possible. After an hour and a half of agonized waiting, Nadine called them all into the conference room, where Dr. Reilly was waiting for them.

"We need to take Ryan in for immediate surgery," he said gravely. "He's already being prepped. As you know, the blood clot in his brain has been growing slowly larger and increasing the pressure in his skull. The emergency scan we just did shows a new area of fresh blood - the pressure has broken another blood vessel that was probably weakened by the initial injury. We need to go in, suction out the old blood clot, and find the new bleeder and get it stopped, or his chances of recovery are virtually nil. In another several hours, the increase in pressure would most likely kill him. I'm sorry, I wish I had better news for you."

"Will you actually need to go into his brain?" Mrs. Kelly asked fearfully.

"Probably not," Dr. Reilly assured her. "We'll need to open his skull on the right side, and peel back the membranes that cover his brain, but it appears that the broken blood vessels are all on the surface of his brain - all the blood that we can see is between his brain and his skull, rather than deeper in his brain."

"How risky is this?" Mr. Kelly asked.

"There's always the risk that his heart could stop during the surgery, but we're prepared for that in the operating room. The risks are far higher if we don't operate."

There was no option, everyone knew that. Mr. Kelly gave the permission for the surgery, signing the necessary papers, and they all returned to the waiting room, staring at each other or the floor in fear and despair. An update was sent to Sharon, who hurried to join them as fast as she could. Knowing it would be several hours before they heard anything, everyone took turns going down to the cafeteria and forcing themselves to eat something. Someone was always in the waiting room; they weren't about to risk no one being there when news was brought.

Nadine brought them periodic updates, but it was little help to know that each stage of the process was happening, although it was good to hear that Ryan's heart was strong and was maintaining a good rhythm. Finally, Nadine brought them word that the surgery was complete, blood clot removed, and several bleeding vessels had been fixed, and that the pressure in Ryan's skull had decreased to a safer level. He was in the recovery room and would be brought back up to his room shortly - but no visitors at all would be allowed until morning, as they needed to monitor his reaction to the surgery. Sighs of relief were heard, and then Sharon sent all the boys back to the hotel to rest, saying that she would stay with the Kellys through the night. It didn't quite work that way; Keith was unable to sleep for more than a few hours, and came back to the hospital around midnight, Emmet arriving a few hours later for the same reason.


	10. Chapter 10

Tim had brought them periodic updates throughout the night, and Ryan had done well enough that the usual visiting schedule was resumed in the morning. It seemed as though little had changed except for the fact that half of Ryan's head had been shaved and was covered in bandages. Things continued smoothly until the evening hours.

Neil had been in Ryan's room with Mrs. Kelly, and Keith in the waiting room with the rest of the family. Fiona had been in with the usual periodic updates until around 10 pm, when she suddenly stopped coming out. At first, everyone assumed that things had simply gotten busy; this had happened before, and she'd eventually come out. But now it was midnight, time for Keith and Raymond to take over in the room, and no one was coming out. Keith, getting restless again, walked into the ICU to see if Neil and Mrs. Kelly were ready to leave and was startled to find Neil standing outside Ryan's door, his head buried in his hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, wrapping an arm around Neil, and was surprised to find the older man shaking. Tightening his grip, he pulled him close. "Come on, Neil, talk to me. What's going on?"

Neil looked up at him, and Keith could see the intense stress in his eyes. "I had to get out," he said. "Just for a minute. I've been freaking out, and not letting Mrs. Kelly see it, for the last hour."

"Why?"

"Ryan's alarms have been going off every few minutes for the last hour and a half," Neil explained shakily. "Either it's the ventilator alarm, because it seems like he's trying to fight the ventilator and breathe on his own rhythm, or he tenses up and his heart rate goes sky high. They've tried everything - pain medicine, changing his position, taking his splints off. They even shut down the ventilator for a few minutes to see if he could breathe on his own. He did, but not enough to keep his oxygen levels up, so they had to put it back on again. They said if it doesn't stop they're going to have to give him more medicine to deliberately paralyze his breathing muscles so he stops fighting."

"I'm surprised they haven't made you leave," Keith said.

"I know," Neil said heavily. "Nobody's said, it, but honestly, I think they're afraid he's going to die and they want someone here with him."

"Don't say that!" Keith burst out. "He's not! They'd at least have called the rest of the family in if they thought that was the case!"

"I guess so," Neil said tiredly. "I just know that neither one of us can take any more, but I can't get Mrs. Kelly to leave."

"OK," said Keith. "It's time to switch anyway. Let me get Mr. Kelly in here, and then Raymond and I will take over." He went back out to the waiting room and spoke to the rest of the family, explaining what was going on. Mr. Kelly went in and convinced his wife to leave, and then Keith and Raymond went in to let Neil go.

"It looks like we're in for a rough night", Raymond said. They could see that Ryan's color wasn't good and he was sweating even though the room wasn't hot. Tim, who had just come on, came in to check on Ryan just then.

"Hi, guys," he said. "It's not been an easy time the last hour or so. I wish we could figure out what the problem is and fix it, for right now we're just trying to ease things as much as we can. If either of you has a brain wave about something that might help, don't be afraid to suggest it. It certainly can't hurt."

Ryan suddenly tensed and grimaced, his heart rate monitor alarming as his pulse skyrocketed. Tim hurried over, removing splints and shifting Ryan's position until he relaxed and his heart rate went down again.

"That's been happening about every 10 minutes," Tim said. "That, or the ventilator alarm goes off. I don't suppose I need to tell you that this kind of stress isn't good for him. Sending people out of the room doesn't change anything, so we didn't see the need to exclude visitors, but if it gets to be too much for you, let us know, OK?"

Raymond and Keith nodded. Keith understood now why Neil had been in such bad shape after going through this for the last hour and a half. Neil was strong, despite his gentle nature, but this would wear anybody down. He looked at Raymond.  
"If this keeps up, we might need to trade off more frequently," he said. "Good thing there's always somebody in the waiting room." Raymond nodded.

Things were quiet for a few more minutes, and then the ventilator alarm went off, and Tim came in again, trying to adjust the ventilator to match the rhythm Ryan seemed to be trying to use. After a few minutes, things calmed down again. The cycle repeated itself, as Tim had said, about every 10 minutes. By the fourth or fifth cycle, Keith and Raymond were both feeling the strain. Then Ryan tensed again, making an awful face and setting the heart rate monitor off - but just as Tim reached the door, he seemed to relax on his own.

"Well," Tim said, "that's different. I'd just made up my mind to call Dr. Reilly in, but if he's going to settle down on his own, maybe we're turning the corner." He stepped out again, and Raymond suddenly realized that he was hearing an odd, random humming coming from next to him. He turned to look at Keith.

"Is that you?" he said. The humming stopped as Keith turned to look at him and said, "Is what me?"

"You were humming or sort of singing something," Raymond said.

Keith looked away, embarrassed. "I guess I was. The other guys tell me I do that when I'm upset or worried. I don't even know I'm doing it most of the time. I'll try not to if it's bugging you. There's enough stress in here as it is."

"I was just surprised, it wasn't bothering me," said Raymond. "If it helps you, don't try to fight it."

Suddenly the ventilator alarm went off, and Tim hurried in, silenced the alarm and prepared to adjust the ventilator again, then stopped in surprise. "He's stopped fighting it on his own," Tim said. "Maybe things are really going to settle down." He stepped out of the room again. Raymond noticed that Keith was singing again, but didn't say anything.

Things were calm for more than 15 minutes this time, and then Raymond noticed that Keith had stopped singing - and suddenly the ventilator alarm went off again. He made a sudden connection.

"Keith!" he cried out over the alarm as Tim appeared in the doorway. "Come over here and start singing again!"

"What?" Keith said loudly, confused.

"Just do it," Raymond said. "I think I know what's going on."

Keith stepped over next to Ryan and started singing, a random song pulled out of his memory at the moment, and the ventilator alarm immediately stopped. He stopped singing in surprise, and the alarm started going off again almost immediately. He started singing again, and the alarm stopped.

"I knew it!" Raymond exclaimed. "It's you singing that's settling him down! He must be recognizing your voice!"

"Well, that's a new one," said Tim. "I'll take it, though." He looked at Keith. "Can you keep singing until morning, though?"

Keith nodded, then with a grin inserted the phrase "I will if I have to" into the song. The other two laughed, finally relaxing.


	11. Chapter 11

After half an hour of Keith singing continuously and Ryan remaining calm, Tim figured that they really had found the right treatment, unconventional or not. Keith was singing very quietly, so some of the other staff hadn't noticed right away, although they did notice the lack of alarms from that room. Dan, one of the other night nurses, came over to Tim and said, "Finally got your rock star settled down, huh? What ended up working?"

Tim grinned. "Alternative medicine," he said impishly. Dan looked confused.

"Come here," Tim said, leading Dan over to the door of the room. As they approached, Dan heard a soft, sweet voice coming from the room.

"Music, really?" he said.

"Not just any music. Look in."

Dan did, and saw Keith sitting by Ryan's bed, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, singing an old Irish melody softly. He couldn't help but smile.

"I thought that was a recording," he said. "He's really good. So Ryan's brother sings, too?"

"Keith isn't really Ryan's brother by blood," Tim whispered. "Raymond's the real brother. The other 'brothers' are the other singers from Ryan's group, and now I'm really glad Dr. Reilly agreed to let them in. Ryan's parents requested it, they said the guys spend so much time together that they're as close as brothers. If Keith hadn't subconsciously started singing when he got really worried, we might have lost Ryan tonight."

"That's amazing," Dan said, shaking his head. Then he started laughing, because Keith had finished that song and started on a Beach Boys tune. "Seriously? That's a switch."

"I know," Tim agreed with a smile. "So far he's done everything from hymns to trad to Glen Campbell, it just seems to be whatever song he thinks of. I'm really going to have to check this group out."

"He's really going to be able to keep singing all night?"

"He says he can," Tim shrugged. "More accurately, he SANG 'I will if I have to' instead of the regular line of what he was singing when I asked him. Those guys would do anything for each other, I think."

Tim made a detour out to the waiting room to let Colette and Emmet know that things had settled down. Emmet started laughing himself when Tim told him what the "treatment" was. "God," he said. "Who would have thought that that annoying habit of Keith's would have a use other than calming himself down while he drives the rest of us batty? Is he at least singing real songs rather than that weird random crooning that he does most of the time?"

Tim laughed, too. "It started out as the random stuff, but so far he's been doing real songs since we figured out that it was him singing that was helping. It's kind of amusing, though, because I never know what he's going to come up with next."

"That's Keith," Emmet said. "That man's got more styles of music wrapped up inside his head than any one person has a right to." He shook his head. "And to think he's got no formal training at all, it's all natural gift. For all my training, I get jealous of how easy it is for him sometimes."

Tim gaped at him. "No training? Seriously? That's just...I don't know."

Emmet grinned. "It sounds like you're going to get used to hearing all of us," he said. "George and Neil don't have any formal voice training either, nor does Ryan himself for that matter. Oddest group of professional singers you've ever met." Changing the subject, he said," I'll bring some tea up for Keith. He drinks gallons of it when we're singing all day, and I know how he likes it. It's the newest singer's job to get it ready for after a show, and that's me right now."

Keith was as good as his word and kept singing until morning. They did discover that Ryan would stay calm for a few minutes if Raymond was talking to him and rubbing his arms when Keith had to take the inevitable break to deal with the result of drinking that much tea. Ryan did tense up and set his heart rate monitor off again as Emmet and Keith were changing places, but fortunately as soon as Emmet started his warm-up exercises, Ryan settled down again. The night staff, who were just getting ready to leave, as well as the morning staff, weren't expecting either the voice or the style that was now coming from Ryan's room. Emmet's classical tenor-baritone was a massive switch from Keith's eclectic style. Several of the night staff were lamenting the fact that they wouldn't get to hear George, and were planning on coming in early enough to see what Neil's voice was like.

Dr. Reilly almost lost his temper when he came in to find someone singing continuously in Ryan's room, but after Nadine convinced him to read the night nursing notes, he settled down and accepted the situation, saying that it was probably inevitable given their patient's occupation. Sharon, however, was another matter. She wasn't too keen on her performers singing for hours on end so soon before a gig; she was afraid they would strain their voices. She didn't have the heart to forbid them to continue, though, especially after Neil broke down explaining what that hour and a half had been like when they couldn't do anything. She did, however, insist that they try the Celtic Thunder recordings at least as a way to give the singers a break, also thinking ahead that these could be used once she had to drag the rest of the boys off to Atlantic City - a task she wasn't looking forward to, especially if Ryan was still in such serious condition.


	12. Chapter 12

Sharon insisted they try the recordings as soon as possible, and brought in a copy of "Heritage" that she happened to have with her. A portable CD player was borrowed and put in Ryan's room during the afternoon shift, when George and Mr. Kelly were there. Sharon wasn't allowed in the room, but they did let her stand at the doorway. It was the first she'd seen Ryan, and she was shocked at how bad he looked. She hadn't been able to visualize what the boys were describing and make it fit with her memories of Ryan.

Things were fine through "The Dutchman" and "Buachaill on Eirne", although Ryan didn't seem quite as relaxed as he was with the live singing, but as soon as Ryan's own voice filled the room in "Black is the Color", Ryan's heart rate went wild again and he stiffened up so badly he popped a strap off his splints. Mr. Kelly hit the stop button, George immediately started singing, and they watched Ryan's heart rate drop and his limbs relax as the soothing baritone flowed through the room. Sharon had gone very pale.

"Is that what he was doing before Keith started singing?" she asked shakily.

"Yes," Mr. Kelly confirmed. "He's done it a few times since when George needed to stop singing for a moment or two, but not that badly."

"I wonder why he was OK with Keith and Damian's voices, but not his own," Sharon said.

George was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he wasn't about to stop singing to say anything until he had a substitute. He went over to the player and hit skip to move to the next song, which he knew was Paul's. He'd have to convince them before the next song came on, since it was an ensemble piece. Nonetheless, he waited through the first few lines to make sure Ryan was going to be OK. Then he said quietly, "It's his OWN voice. If he has any kind of awareness of what's happened to him, he's got to be terrified that he'll never be able to sing again, to perform again. Performing's his life. Hearing us singing to him means he still has that link with us, he hasn't lost us. Hearing himself is hearing something he's afraid to lose."

Mr. Kelly looked at him and at Sharon. "I think he's probably right," he said. "In any case, I'm not letting this experiment continue any longer."

Nadine spoke up from behind Sharon, startling her. She'd come over to check on Ryan when the monitors at the nurse's station had shown Ryan's reaction to his own voice. "I won't permit it, either. Those episodes are extremely bad for him."

Sharon turned to her, ignoring George shutting off the CD player and starting to sing again quietly. "No, I couldn't bear to put him through that again in any case. But I have to think about my singers, too, especially with performances coming up in a few weeks. I can't risk them straining their voices. And what happens when we have to leave for Atlantic City?"

George had to speak up again, and started the CD again from the beginning, knowing he had two safe songs before he had to take over again. "Sharon, we're not singing at performance level. We rehearse at higher level than this for a lot longer than 6 hours at a time."

"Yes, but none of you is singing continuously for 6 hours in rehearsals, either."

"Ask David what he thinks. He's the musical director, he'll know if it will hurt us. And we've got recording programs on our laptops. Get some memory sticks, and we'll start recording one or two songs a day when we're done here, and by the time we have to leave there should be enough music to keep things going when we can't do it any longer. We can start phasing the recordings in a few days before we leave." He turned off the CD player and started singing again.

Sharon grumbled about that meaning more singing, but she knew it was the only option she would get the boys to agree to, as none of them were willing to risk Ryan's safety for any more "experiments". She hoped David Munro would agree with George. Sometimes she hated having to be the boss and think about things this way; given her choice, she'd cancel the AC shows and keep everybody here until they knew Ryan was going to get better, but it truly wasn't an option.


	13. Chapter 13

Fortunately, David Munro did agree with George's assessment that the level of singing they were doing in Ryan's room wouldn't hurt them. He also pointed out to Sharon that emotional stress could do more damage to the boys' voices than hours of quiet singing would, and advised her to let them do what they needed to do for themselves and for Ryan.

Over the next two weeks, Ryan made astonishing progress in his recovery. The tightness in his limbs decreased and finally vanished, making the splints unnecessary. A repeat brain scan, done with some of the boys' recordings playing through Ryan's Ipod, showed that the swelling in his brain was decreasing and the shift of his brain to the left that had been caused by the blood clot was correcting itself. Dr. Reilly had the respiratory staff begin weaning Ryan off the ventilator, at first having him breathe on his own for a few minutes, and then for increasingly longer periods, until after the end of the two weeks, he no longer needed it at all, although they kept him on oxygen to help keep the oxygen levels in his blood higher to help with the brain healing.

Although no one in the Celtic Thunder family had breathed a word about Ryan's injury, somehow the fans had figured out that something drastic had happened to him, and were sending prayers and good wishes around the clock, organizing prayer groups and masses. Somehow they even found out about a special Mass that was held at Ryan's church in the Moy and masses all over the world were timed to coincide with it. Realizing that the fans were worrying, but supporting Ryan in the best way they could, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly finally agreed to let some information be released - only that Ryan had had a serious accident and was in the hospital, but was now recovering. This also freed Sharon to introduce Colm to the fans prior to the AC shows. Colm was astonished at the wave of support that immediately came his way, which he certainly needed as he was still trying to get visas sorted to fly to the States, and it was starting to look like he'd be lucky to get there before the first show.

Meanwhile, as Ryan improved, the natural good humor of the rest of the boys began to return. Each improvement allowed them to relax a little more. They had too much sense to prank each other in the ICU, but small pranks were starting to happen at the hotel, giving everyone some much needed laughs. The ICU staff had become used to their presence and to the music in Ryan's room, but new staff were still surprised by the situation.

One evening Fiona was orienting a new nurse, Shauna, who would be working the night shift that night. As she was explaining procedures, she noticed that Shauna kept glancing towards Ryan's room as if something was distracting her. Fiona stopped talking for a minute and listened, realizing that Neil was singing - she had gotten so used to the sound that she almost didn't notice it unless it stopped. Shauna blushed, thinking that Fiona had caught her not paying attention.

"I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed. "It's that recording coming from the second room, there. Do you know who it is?"

Fiona laughed. "That's no recording," she said. "We've gotten so used to it that it's part of the normal sounds for us. That's Ryan's brother, Neil, singing to him. His brothers have been singing to him for 2 weeks straight."

"Really?" Shauna said, surprised. "How many brothers does he have?"

"Four that sing," Fiona said. "Ryan's a singer himself, and we found out a few weeks ago that when they sing to him, he stays calm and rests - before that he was fighting his ventilator and the meds and everything. We almost lost him one night until Keith started singing, and they've been singing non-stop ever since. Well, not quite non-stop lately since Ryan's recovering now, they can stop for a while."

"Wow, now that's dedication," Shauna said, impressed. "And what an amazing voice. I don't know that I've ever heard a man sing with that range, I wasn't sure at first if it was a man's voice or a woman's voice."

"I know," Fiona said. "All the boys have amazing voices, but Neil's is really special. I've heard recordings of him singing, but there's something about his voice live that doesn't get picked up on recordings. My jaw almost hit the floor the first night I heard him singing in here." She jumped as a laughing voice came from behind her.

"Hey, now, love, you're going to make me jealous if you keep going on about Neil's voice like that," Keith said, coming up behind her and poking her in the back. Keith's impishness was coming out full force lately and he'd taken a particular liking to Fiona, as she was always ready to flirt back. Shauna's eyes had gotten huge.

Fiona turned around and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Good evening yourself, Keith," she said. "Should have known you'd be up here bugging me soon, it's almost midnight. Ready to take over for Neil?" She turned back to Shauna. "This is Keith, the next singer on duty. Keith, this is Shauna, she's new, so be nice to her, OK?"

Keith's eyes went wide with an exaggeratedly innocent expression. "When am I ever anything but nice?" he said, grinning. Shauna couldn't help but giggle. "Nice to meet you," he said, looking at her. "Heard you talking about Neily-boy's range there, he's not anywhere near the top of it yet. That's mid-range for him."

"Oh come on," Shauna said. "I sing myself, and that's awfully high for a man."

"Want to hear him go higher?" Keith asked, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "I can make him jump up a lot higher without getting anywhere near him."

"You're on," Shauna said. "I don't believe you can do it."

"It's easy," Keith said, "especially since he's not paying a lot of attention right now." He took a deep breath and joined in with what Neil was singing, matching him note for note, his eyes twinkling as Shauna looked at him in surprise. Neil, unconsciously responding to the new voice, spiraled up to a harmony at least an octave higher, pure and sweet, singing along for a few notes before he realized what was going on, and then coming over to the door of Ryan's room to look out and glare at Keith. Shauna and Fiona were doubled over, laughing, and everyone else in the ICU had stopped to listen. For all the fierce look on Neil's face, the same pure sweet voice kept coming out of his mouth until they reached the end of the song.

"Thanks a lot, brat," he said, laughing. "You actually made Ryan smile, though."

It was Keith's turn to look stunned. "Seriously?" he said.

"Just for a second," Neil said. "Just when you tricked me, I swear the right side of his mouth twitched up, almost before I realized what you'd done." Neil's mood had lightened considerably over the last few days, although he was still the only one of the boys who hadn't returned to posting on Facebook or Twitter - he had been too concerned and focused on Ryan to think about anything else, so he simply hadn't posted anything for fear of letting something slip.

"Now THAT was amazing," said Shauna. "Good thing I didn't actually bet you anything, Keith, I'd have lost. How did you know how to do that?"

"We do stuff like that to each other all the time," Keith said, shrugging. "Even on stage. Change a harmony, switch a few words around and make the others try to catch up with us. Keeps us from getting bored." He pointed at Neil. "That guy right there is the worst, he can pull off anything with such a straight face that he has the rest of us laughing so hard we can't sing."

A beeping came from Ryan's room, not the harsh alarm that had signaled the earlier episodes of skyrocketing pulse, but a more gentle sound that was a warning that his pulse rate was rising. Neil turned his head back into the room. "Oh, hush, Ryan," he said. "Keith will be in soon. Give us a minute, will you?" To everyone's surprise, the beeping stopped. "I swear he's using that to communicate," Neil said.

"After everything else that's happened since you guys came in here, it wouldn't really surprise me much," said Fiona. "You watch," she said to Shauna, "These guys can even make Dr. Reilly smile when he's grumpy."

"Now that is a miracle," Shauna said. The beeping started up again.

"All right, Ryan! Man, if he remembers any of this when he wakes up, he is going to be soooo spoiled," Keith grumbled, but he was grinning at the same time. Tilting his head back, he sang the first few lines of Heartland, in the clear tenor call that was, Fiona privately thought, her favorite of his many voices. The beeping stopped again, and he laughed as he strolled into Ryan's room. "Hi, Mrs. Kelly," he said, giving her a hug, grinning again to see her laughing at his and Neil's antics. "Raymond should be in any minute, and then you can get some rest."


	14. Chapter 14

The time had come that Sharon had been dreading. She had to get the boys ready to leave for Atlantic City. She knew that they weren't going to want to, and she'd need to give them some time to get used to the idea, so she came to the hospital and called them all together for a meeting in the conference room, with permission of the ICU staff. Ryan's Ipod was left as his music source for the meeting.

"You boys have done an amazing job here," she said. "I knew how close you all were, but this surprised all of us. I've heard so much from the staff here, from Ryan's family, and from other families about how fantastic you've all been. But it's time to start thinking about leaving for Atlantic City. We're due there to start rehearsals in 4 days." She had expected protests, and she got them.

"Sharon, we can't leave now!" "How can you even think about making us leave!" "Ryan and his family need us!"

"I'm not leaving until Ryan's awake," came a flat, determined statement from Neil. "I won't." The others, minus George who was sitting and listening quietly, joined in. "We won't either!"

"We don't have a choice on this," Sharon said, "and you know it. We've a contract we have to fulfill, and fans waiting for us."

Keith said hotly, "If you'd let us tell the fans what's wrong with Ryan, they wouldn't mind. They'd want us to stay here with him!"

Sharon fired back just as hotly. "You know that's not my decision to make. Ryan's parents have requested that, and I won't change it without their agreement. And you WILL NOT mention it to them, understood?" She glared at all of them. "This doesn't just affect us. It affects the hotel and many other businesses in Atlantic City. If we cancel, then the fans who've planned vacations there cancel, and they all lose money. Not to mention that Colm's turned his life upside down in a matter of weeks to help people he's never met!"

"I can't believe you're putting money ahead of Ryan!" Emmet yelled. "I know the fans accuse you of that, but I never thought it was true!"

"Tha's ENOUGH!" George thundered. They all looked at him, shocked into silence.

"You lot are behaving like spoiled kids," he said. "I'm ashamed of you, yelling like that and accusing Sharon of not caring. You know better. You know perfectly well that if she had her choice, she'd cancel everything and keep us all with Ryan until he was completely better. Having to make us leave is tearing her apart, and you just made it worse! Act like the professionals you are, will you?" He looked completely disgusted with them, and that, more than anything, turned them around.

"I'm sorry," Keith said, hanging his head.

"Me, too," echoed Emmet. "We know you better than that, Sharon."

Even Neil gave in. "I'll go," he said. "It's just...he's finally started getting better. What if us leaving changes that? What if he gets worse again?" It was the real reason behind their resistance to leaving, and Sharon knew that. They were scared.

"I know you're all scared that things will go wrong and we won't be here to help," she said gently. "I am, too, and as George said, if there was ANY way I could do it, I wouldn't LET you leave. I'd move heaven and earth to keep you here. But we don't have that choice. What we need to do is work out how best to keep supporting Ryan and his family. Get as much music recorded and downloaded into Ryan's Ipod as you can. Figure out when you can each take some time to go home and pack and see your families before you leave. Figure out the best ways to keep in touch while we're gone. And I have some medical and other news that will help."

This was a surprise to all of them. "What is it?" they chorused.

Sharon smiled. "First, Damian will be here in 2 days, and he'll be able to stay for a few days after we have to leave. You'll all be able to see him, and he'll be here to help." That brought some sighs of relief, that they would have another brother to take over for them. "Unfortunately, Paul's not going to be able to get here at all, but he sent me some digital recordings to add to Ryan's playlist." That brought some nods and grins. "And," she said, "Mr. Kelly told me when I arrived that Ryan has recovered enough that Dr. Reilly has ordered the staff to begin reducing the medication that is keeping him in coma, to allow him to wake up." "There were some cheers at this, and she cautioned them quickly. "It doesn't mean he'll wake up immediately, and it doesn't mean that he'll be perfectly back to normal when he does wake up. It will be a slow process, over a week until the medications are completely stopped, and it could be longer before he actually wakes up. Even if he doesn't have any permanent brain damage, it will be a while before his brain is working normally again. He'll need to be in the hospital for weeks, probably months, longer. I've asked Dr. Reilly to meet with all of us before we leave to tell us what is likely to happen while we're away, so we won't be completely in the dark."


	15. Chapter 15

Sharon had been able to arrange the meeting with Dr. Reilly for the next afternoon, when everyone would have been able to get a bit of sleep and Emmet and Keith had been able to get home to pack. Ryan had done very well with the recordings the previous day, so they were used again to allow everyone, Kellys and CT family, to attend the meeting.

Dr. Reilly started out by telling them that, while he'd been reluctant to have the boys in initially, it had turned out far better than he'd hoped, and that some of the staff had been asking if they could have Celtic Thunder music played in the ICU on a regular basis, as they found it helped their concentration and stress levels. That brought grins and slight blushes all around. He then got down to business.

"As you know, we've started reducing Ryan's medications to allow him to wake out of the coma naturally. Now, we don't know for sure that he WILL wake up when all of the medications are out of his system, but given the responsiveness he's shown recently even on them, I'm optimistic that he will. I must tell you that even the level of awareness he's shown, of your voices and presence, is unusual at the level he is medicated to, and that gives me encouragement. I know it's been easy to read into some of his responses and believe they are voluntary, but that is unlikely at the level of medication he is at. The responses are reflexive or emotional at best rather than purposeful right now. That should change as the medications are lowered.

"People refer to coming out of a coma as 'waking up', but a coma isn't completely analogous to sleeping, and the process of coming out of one isn't exactly like waking up. What we'll see first is what's referred to as a 'lightening' of his coma state - he'll become more reactive and more responsive although he won't technically be awake. We may see him turn his head towards familiar voices, begin moving on his own assuming there is no paralysis, change in facial expression with pleasant as well as uncomfortable things. We may even see the ability to respond to simple commands such as the classic 'squeeze my hand if you can hear me'. Eventually, he'll begin to open his eyes, but he may not be completely awake even then and may have limited awareness of what's going on around him.

"Now, when he does wake up, you must not expect him to be completely back to normal. He'll have no memory of the accident, nor the last several weeks, and it's likely he'll have lost some memory of the time immediately before the accident, possibly several weeks before. He will not know where he is, or why he is here. You'll tell him, but he may ask you again and again, as it will be hard for him to form new memories immediately. It's possible that he may have some trouble remembering who he is, or who his family members and friends are." He saw the downcast faces at these words and smiled gently. "With luck, all these effects will be temporary, except for not remembering the accident or the last few weeks. Those memories never got a chance to be formed. Over time, either the other memories will come back or he will relearn the information he's lost. It is possible, even likely, that there might be some long-term difficulty with memory; we'll simply have to see.

"The one thing you need to be aware of is that Ryan's personality is likely to be different when he first wakes up. Almost all coma patients go through a period of intense agitation when they first wake up. Some go through it in one screaming tantrum; others get stuck in it for months, but most go through several weeks where they are easily irritated and are likely to get angry and even aggressive. It's similar to how you might feel if you'd been under intense stress for a long time; the least demand will throw you over the edge into anger or rage or tears. It's not voluntary or under his control in any way; it's best just to be supportive and calm and let it pass. I understand from speaking with you all that Ryan is ordinarily a very gentle person, and over time that should return as his brain continues to heal and processes information better.

"Once he's awake, we can begin to determine what, if any, permanent brain damage might have been caused. As I said, given his current unusual responsiveness, I'm optimistic that he'll make a much better recovery than I initially feared. But we are still looking at a likely time frame of months before he is close to anything resembling normal. There is always the possibility of damage to his ability to speak or understand speech. In addition to the continued healing of the brain injury, he'll need to regain the strength and muscle mass he's lost through being in bed for such a prolonged time. As soon as he is able, his physical and occupational therapies will transition to more active tasks, and other therapies may be added. It's likely he'll need some time in specialized brain injury rehabilitation as well."

Dr. Reilly stopped there, knowing he'd given them a tremendous amount of information to process and adjust to. He assured them that he would be available to answer any questions, including any that arose after the other singers had left for America, and that Sharon would have his contact information. He asked, but no one had any questions at that point, they were too overwhelmed with the information they'd been given, and a bit down-hearted that things weren't quite as far along as they'd thought. Never having dealt with anyone with a brain injury before, they'd had no clue that it would cause so many issues in so many areas of Ryan's life. They had to readjust their thinking to realize that they would be helping Ryan for many more weeks. They spent most of the rest of that day and the next day talking things over.

The next day brought a welcome break in Damian's arrival. Sharon had let them all know when he was coming, so that everyone was in the waiting room and practically dogpiled him to the floor. They made so much noise that Nadine came out to see what all the ruckus was about. She was introduced to Damian as being yet another brother, but she kept looking at him in puzzlement and finally pulled Sharon aside.

"Look," she said. "I know that you told me he's another 'brother', but we've got a pretty strict policy regarding minors visiting in the ICU. I honestly can't tell whether he's older than he looks or younger than he acts. How old is he?"

Sharon laughed. "You don't need to worry, he's 19," she said. "Older than he looks and younger than he acts is probably the most accurate description of Damian I've ever heard, from the first day I met him when he was 14."

"Fourteen?" Nadine said in surprise. "How did you meet him when he was fourteen?"

Sharon smiled in remembrance. "Damian, along with Keith, Ryan, and George, was one of the original members of Celtic Thunder when we formed the group in 2007. They've been through a lot together. And yes, that's awfully young for a touring musical group, and yes, he absolutely belonged there. I've never met another young man with the voice and the stage presence he had at that age. It still boggles my mind when I remember that first show we did and how he - and all of them really, with no professional stage experience at all - just took off and flew with it. I couldn't be more proud of any of them."

"Wow," Nadine said. "I can't wait to hear him sing, now! His voice is so deep anyway, it takes you off guard."

"It took us all off guard," Sharon said. "His voice hadn't broken yet when we did the first show, but by the time we got round to touring it, it was breaking and seemed like it was getting deeper every day. And he kept getting taller! He started out below Keith's shoulder, and now look at him! Keeping him in clothes and adjusting his vocal parts was a constant job for several years."

"I'm sure!" Nadine laughed. "Not to mention keeping him fed, I'll bet!"

"Well, that's been a problem right along with all of them," Sharon said, shaking her head. "They all eat constantly when we're touring, and the amount they put away is amazing. We literally restock the tour bus daily."

Nadine got her chance to hear Damian sing pretty quickly, because he wasn't about to be kept out of Ryan's room very long. He'd heard, of course, in detail from everyone, but it was still a shock to him to see Ryan so still and quiet. When he started singing, though, there was no doubt in the mind of anyone present that Ryan actually did smile at the deep rich voice rolling through the room. It was gone too quickly for anyone to get a picture of it, but they all knew it had happened.


	16. Chapter 16

The next two days went by very quickly. George returned to Glasgow to pack and say good-bye to his wife and daughter, who insisted on all the details of how Ryan was doing, even though he'd called them every night. As each of the boys had to leave, they each took some alone time with Ryan to sing him one last song and talk to him, telling him where they were going and that they would be checking in daily and praying for him, and would be back to see him as soon as they were home. Neighbors of the Kellys from the Moy, who had been checking in regularly as well, would be taking over staying with the Kellys in the waiting room, although they weren't allowed in Ryan's room.

Flying so far away was difficult for the boys, who felt very much as if they were leaving Ryan when he needed them most, but they all agreed that the best thing they could do now was to put on the best show they could in honor of him. Damian reported just before he had to leave that Ryan had done well with the recordings and was continuing to progress slowly. At least one trans-Atlantic phone call was placed every day, checking in with the Kellys. They reported simple changes that meant a great deal - Ryan began smiling or turning his head towards his parents and siblings voices; he began moving his arms and legs on his own, which meant he probably wasn't paralyzed; once in a while he even seemed to follow a simple command, although it wasn't consistent.

Meanwhile, rehearsals were awkward as well. Colm still hadn't gotten his visa so they were working around an empty space and missing voice, while Colm was madly trying to memorize as much as he could without actually having the other singers there to work with, and worrying if he would be able to learn the choreography quickly enough. Sharon was starting to get seriously worried that they'd still be a man down when they had to do the first show, and the strain was showing on all of them - they tended to be a bit more snappy with each other, a little less tolerant than they would normally be. Consequently some of the activities and pranks went a bit too far and either worried Sharon more or caused arguments.

Finally Colm called that he'd gotten his visa and was flying out - but it would give him only a day until the first show. He worked right through the flight on memorizing songs, and went straight into the theatre to start working on choreography. It was the first time he'd met any of the other singers and needless to say, he was nervous. For the most part, the boys welcomed him and did their best to help him out, working with him on choreography when someone else was rehearsing. He did notice that they all seemed a bit touchy and was hoping that it wasn't him - he knew, of course, that they were worried sick about Ryan, but he was afraid that they were thinking he couldn't cut it either. When they got a few minutes to breathe, George pulled him aside.

"You're doing fine, Colm, don't worry," he said. "I guarantee you that none of us could pick this up as fast as you are, and any of the others will tell you that I'm the slowest one on choreography - not that I agree, mind you, but that's what they'll say!" He smiled, seeing that he had made Colm grin. "And don't worry about the fans being upset if you mess up. They know how fast you've been thrown into this, and in truth they seem to enjoy it even more when we mess up - which we do all the time. You'll see. I know we're all a bit touchy, we're not usually this short with each other. It's just being worried about Ryan and having to be so far away from him, it's naught to do with you."

Colm felt better after talking to him, and more so after he'd made a mistake in rehearsal when George reached over and grabbed his hand and swung it, grinning at him. He knew then that the big Scot had taken him under his wing and would look out for him. Truthfully, he liked all the other guys, and he and Emmet were rapidly becoming the best of friends, but his nerves were still taking a beating.

The first few shows went well, a few minor and one or two major mistakes, but as George had said, the fans laughed with them and seemed to enjoy the flubs as much as anything else. Colm was still getting used to people wanting his autograph; as a back-up singer for Celtic Women he'd been fairly anonymous, so he hadn't been expecting to find fans outside the stage door looking for HIM after any show, much less his very first one. This was something all the guys remembered very well and, while they teased him about it, they also told him some wild stories of their first touring experiences as well.

One night Neil was to call Raymond for a late check-in before everyone crashed for the night - being they were now 5 hours behind Irish time, they had to be careful when they called. Nicole had ducked out of the room for a few minutes, and when she came back him, she found Neil with his head in his hands. She went to him immediately and wrapped her arms around him.

"What is it, love?" she said. "Is Ryan worse?"

"No," Neil said, raising his head, and she gasped at the joy in his eyes, even though there were tears rolling down his cheeks. "He woke up, Nic," he said, "He woke up and he knew Raymond, and he was talking clearly!"

"Oh, thank God," Nicole said. "Did you get to talk to him?"

"No." Neil shook his head. "Ray said he was only awake for a little while. He didn't know where he was or why Ray was there, and when Ray told him he'd had an accident and was in the hospital, he thought we'd been in an accident on the ABC tour and was worried I was hurt, too. He doesn't remember being home at all."

"Well, I remember you said the doctor told you to expect that," Nicole said. "Did Raymond say anything else?"

"Yeah," Neil grimaced. "Ryan tried to hit him and was cursing at him."

Nicole gasped. "Why?" she said. "Ryan wouldn't do that!"

"The doctor told us to expect that, too," Neil said. "He said Ryan would probably be agitated when he woke up. Raymond said Ryan was trying to pull his IV out because it hurt, Ray stopped him, and the next thing he knew Ryan was swinging at him and cursing a blue streak. He did settle down after the nurse came and took the IV out, but Raymond said just that little bit being awake completely exhausted him and he fell back to sleep."

"Oh well, it's a start," Nicole said. "Much better than I expected from what Sharon told us of the doctor's meeting with you all. And you'd better be getting everyone in here for an update, or they'll be after you!"

"Oh, man, I almost forgot about that part!" Neil said. "I feel like I'm on a roller coaster or something right now, stuff gets away from me before I even see it sometimes!" He quickly sent out a mass text to everyone: "My room, NOW! Big news! Mostly good."

Within minutes, the room was crowded as people sat on the floor, the beds, the tables, and anything else that wouldn't move - there were even a few attempts to sit on each other, resulting in some horseplay until Sharon got them all settled down. Neil had taken those few minutes to get things organized in his mind so he could tell them more coherently than he'd babbled the information out to Nicole.

"Ok," he said. "Good news first - Ryan woke up for a few minutes a little while ago, he was talking fine, and he knew Raymond." He had to stop for cheers at this point. "He doesn't remember being home after our ABC tour, and he thinks he and I had an accident on the tour and was afraid I was hurt, too." Heads nodded; they'd known to expect this. "This is the not so good part - he woke up in pain, trying to pull out his IV because it was hurting, and when Ray stopped him, he took a swing at Ray and cursed at him."

"No!" "God, I was hoping the doctor was wrong about that." "I can't imagine Ryan acting like that, I can't even picture it."  
Finally Sharon got a word in. "Did he hurt Raymond?"

Neil stopped to think for a minute. "I don't think so," he said slowly. "Ray said, 'He tried to take my head off with a swing' I think were the exact words. He didn't say if Ryan actually managed to hit him."

"Thank Heaven for that," Sharon said. "Did Raymond say anything else?"

"Just that Ryan got exhausted really fast and fell back to sleep. I don't think he was awake for even 10 minutes, because Raymond told me that Ryan had woken up about 10 minutes before I called, and he was already back to sleep."

"That's probably not too surprising," Sharon said. "Sounds like it was an action-packed 10 minutes." Everyone smiled at that. "Anything else?"

Again, Neil thought for a minute. "Just that he hoped the agitation didn't get worse before it got better," he said. "I told him I'd let you all know and get everyone praying to get him through that part quickly."

Heads nodded all around. Praying was one thing they could do for Ryan, no matter where they were.


	17. Chapter 17

The next day was very busy, with interviews all morning and then an afternoon show. It didn't stop everyone from talking and thinking about Ryan whenever they had a chance, wondering how he was doing today. No one was going to have a chance to call and check on him until after the afternoon show.

Near the end of the show, Sharon was standing backstage watching Ireland's Call and thinking about how fantastically Colm had stepped in when she felt her phone vibrate. Looking at it, she saw the call was from Raymond, so she took it even though she normally wouldn't have taken a call backstage. The CT folks had been calling for updates, so if Raymond was calling her, it had to be important.

"Yes, Raymond? What's going on?" she said quietly.

"I'm sorry to call during the show," he said, "But we need you to talk to Ryan. He's curled up in a ball on his bed crying because he thinks you fired him."

"Oh no." Sharon raised a hand to her head and turned away from the stage, walking to a quieter area where she could talk at length. She didn't know that Keith had seen her take the phone call and was now quietly passing the word that there was a problem. "How did he get that idea?" she asked, puzzled.

"Put 2 and 2 together and ended up with 43," said Raymond bitterly. "Normally his math's better than that. Anyway, he realized tonight that no one from CT is here, and he thought you'd given up on him. So we ended up having to tell him where you were - or actually, he realized it himself after we told him when he fell and how long he'd been unconscious. The tour schedule seems to be firmly in his memory, anyway. But he thinks you hired Colm to replace him, even though we told him he's only understudying. He doesn't remember you hiring Colm before he fell. He figures that between the mess last summer and now this, you think he's too much trouble to keep on."

"Oh, heavens," Sharon said helplessly. "I suppose I might have seen that coming - I could probably have managed to free somebody from the crew to stay behind at least. Well, nothing to do about it now except to talk to him."

"I'll warn you, he's been pretty agitated a lot of the day. He's likely to yell or curse at you if he doesn't shut down entirely," Raymond said.

"I'll take my chances," Sharon said, trying to work out a strategy in her mind. It was hard, knowing that Ryan's reactions weren't likely to be what she would expect from him.

She waited as Raymond stepped back into Ryan's room and told him he had a phone call. She heard him asking who was on the phone and smiled to hear his voice, even though he sounded pretty upset. Raymond didn't tell him, just told him to take the call.

"Hello?" Ryan said curiously

"Ryan, it's so good to hear you! It's Sharon," she said, thinking that perhaps if she sounded upbeat he would mirror her mood. It didn't work.

"Calling to tell me you fired me, you bitch?" "RYAN!" came an interjection from his father that was not quite loud enough to cover the word he'd used.

"No." Sharon decided that being stern and getting right to the point might be best. "You listen to me," using the voice she reserved for the boys when they had done or planned something totally idiotic. She hoped that, as it usually did on tour, it would shock him into listening without talking for at least a moment or two. It worked. "I would NEVER fire you. You are part of CT for as long as you want to be. Got that?" He didn't reply. On the other end, Ryan's family was trying not to laugh at the look on his face as they heard Sharon sounding like she was scolding a naughty child, although they couldn't hear the words. "I'll hold your spot until you're ready to come back, I don't care how long it takes."

"Then what's with this Colm bastard?" "RYAN, watch your language!" came again from his father. Sharon was startled; she'd never imagined Ryan being this volatile and disrespectful.

"Colm was hired before you fell," Sharon said firmly, ignoring the rudeness. "He was hired to be part of the Mythology tour. I asked him to understudy for you for Atlantic City because we needed another singer with you down. When you're back, he will have his own parts."

"Well, best of luck to him." Ryan said grudgingly. "But how could you just leave me here..." Now his voice was sounding tearful. It physically hurt Sharon to hear him mood-swinging from one negative emotion to another like this.

"I wish we hadn't had to," said Sharon gently. "It tore all of us up, but we didn't have a choice. If there was any way we could have stayed with you, or brought you along with us, we would have, but you know that wasn't possible."

"I know," Ryan said sadly. Now that his emotions had calmed a little, he knew that he'd been inexcusably rude." I'm sorry for yelling at you, Sharon. This is so hard. I can't even sit up by myself, and I keep losing control of myself. I get scared and then I get angry, and then I explode."

"It's all right, Ryan, it's all part of getting better," Sharon said. "Your doctor warned us this would happen before we left, that you'd have problems like this. It will take a while, but you can come back to us whenever you're ready, even if we need to back things down for you for a while so it's not so hard or tiring. You're part of us, Ryan," she said softly, finding tears running down her cheeks. "Don't ever forget that. You know there are recordings in your Ipod from the other boys? When you need us, listen to them; we left them for you for that reason."

"I know," Ryan said. "How are they, are they OK?"

"Worried sick about you mostly, snapping at each other and getting into even more trouble than usual. If one of them doesn't break something coming off a jet ski, it'll be a miracle."

"God, I miss them," Ryan said quietly. "You're going to tell them I talked to you, right?"

"Yes, I'll tell them," Sharon said, smiling now through her tears as Ryan sounded more like himself.

"Please don't tell them what I said about being scared or about me calling you and Colm..."

"I would never," she assured him quickly. "I'll let them know you've had a rough day and that I told you that you can always come back, that's it. We love you, Ryan, and we'll see you as soon as we get home, I promise."

"OK," he said, sounding exhausted. "Bye, Sharon." Raymond took the phone back and stepped out into the hall again.

"Sorry about that, Sharon," he said. "I don't think any of us expected him to blow up at you like that."

"Is that what you've been dealing with all day, Raymond?" Sharon said, distressed.

"Pretty much, yeah. That, and shoving things and people and throwing things. If he's not doing that, he kind of disappears. You know the phrase 'the lights are on but nobody's home'?" Raymond sounded pretty exhausted himself.

"Yes..." Sharon said, not liking the sound of this.

"Well, sometimes that's exactly what he's like. His eyes are open, but they look completely empty - no emotions, no intelligence, nothing. Just blank. And he doesn't respond to anything, it's like he's gone."

"Did you talk to Dr. Reilly about it?"

"Yeah, he said it means that Ryan's brain is overloaded, that he can't process everything that's happening so his brain shuts out everything else until he can get things sorted out. He said it's normal for this stage of his recovery."

"Well, that's a relief, at least," Sharon said. "There's always such a light in Ryan's eyes, I can't imagine them the way you're describing them. Is there any good news for today beyond his being awake?"

"Yes! I was so upset about earlier that I forgot to tell you. He's out of intensive care, on a regular ward, he's starting physical and occupational therapy, and he's eating and drinking on his own, no more feeding tube!"

"Wow, now that is good news!" Sharon said. "Raymond, I've got to go, the afternoon show has got to be done by now and I'm really surprised no one's come looking for me yet." She said good-bye and hung up, and suddenly found herself crying again, for Ryan's confusion and distress and for his family having to deal with it. The Ryan she'd spoken to had been such an odd mix of the man she knew and a complete stranger, she could only imagine what it was like for his family being around that all day. Pulling herself together, she headed back towards the stage - and was surprised to see every single person from CT huddled together there, looking scared. The she realized what must have happened.

"Ok," she said, trying to look stern, "Who was looking offstage instead of paying attention to what they were doing?"

"Me," Keith said.

"I should have known," she said with a watery smile. "It would be you. Well, I won't keep you in suspense." She sighed. "As you've probably guessed, the call was about Ryan. Physically, he's fine - out of intensive care, eating, starting therapies. His memory for the few weeks right before he fell still hasn't returned. He's had a rough day today, lots of things to cope with and lots of stress. He suddenly realized tonight that none of you are there. Somehow, he took that, and the fact that he realized that we're here performing without him, and the memory of having to leave us last summer, and the news that Colm was acting as his understudy, to mean that we'd left him behind and I'd permanently replaced him with Colm."

"No!" "How can he think that?" "He knows we'd never leave him behind!"

"We all know that," Sharon said, "but Ryan can't help the fact that his brain is making up things to fill in the gaps he can't remember. To him, right now, since he doesn't remember knowing that Colm was on board BEFORE he was hurt, it's logical that Colm is his replacement rather than his understudy."

"Surely you didn't let him keep believing that?" Emmet said.

"Of course not! I told him directly - yes , I spoke to him - that he has a permanent place with Celtic Thunder, that his space is here whenever he is ready to come back, and that he can come back in whatever capacity he is able to, whenever he is able to."

"Did that ease his mind?" Nicole asked.

"It seems to have," Sharon replied. "But as I said, it's been a hard day for him; he's lost his temper a number of times, as Neil told us he did last night. He's even been throwing things. He's feeling as though he's not himself anymore, and thinking he'd lost his spot with us just made that worse."

Half the cast and crew were crying now, holding each other. George suddenly said, "Sharon, can you get Ryan back on the phone?"

"Probably, why?"

"I think he needs to hear it from all of us."

Sharon placed the call to Raymond's phone. He picked it up in surprise. "What is it, Sharon?"

"Tell Ryan he's got another call, and then put us on speaker phone." Sharon sounded mischievous and happy.

"O-kayyyy," Raymond said, and turning to the others he said, "Sharon asked me to put my phone on speaker. I don't know what she's up to." Setting it up, he said, "Sharon, can you hear us?"

"Yes. Hold on a second." Then they heard George counting "3-2-1" and the phone suddenly vibrated with many voices calling "We love you, Ryan!" followed by a variety of voices saying they missed Ryan, get well wishes, etc. Everyone was crying, and Ryan was staring at the phone in shock, a huge grin on his face. Then the voices stopped.

Ryan spoke up, his eyes shining and his voice thick with tears. "I miss you all," he said, "so much. I'll be back, I promise. I'm not letting you do Mythology without me!"

Suddenly a voice they didn't know came out of the phone. "Ryan, this is Colm!" Ryan looked bemused to hear the voice of the person who was replacing him. "You'd better come back soon, singing those high parts of yours is going to kill me!" They heard laughter on the other end and then a voice that was unmistakably Keith, the impish smile with which he was speaking clearly audible even over the noise. "Aye, if we have to keep yanking the poor lad's shorts up around his ears every night, we'll do him a permanent mischief!" Ryan literally laughed so hard that he started crying from sheer joy at hearing their nonsense again.


	18. Chapter 18

After the phone call with Ryan, tensions eased considerably in Atlantic City, but there were still incidents and accidents. Nicole fell and sprained her ankle so badly that she had to be carried on and off stage. Keith had gotten into a late night altercation with some other guests who were being noisy outside his room, and had mouthed off about the hotel on Twitter, making Sharon force him to apologize. Even a new guitarist who had come in to audition, Dave Bakey, was already in an ankle cast when he arrived, leading Sharon to say sarcastically that he'd fit right in.

The daily phone calls continued, although as they were being placed through Ryan's family, there were times when the family would tell the caller that it wasn't a good time to talk to Ryan at the moment - either he was too agitated, or he was overloaded and not responding. The details of these states gradually worked their way through the group members, who found it hard to imagine Ryan in either state. When he was able to talk to them, the phone got passed from hand-to-hand in AC as whoever was nearby would come running. Even if Ryan was confused or forgetful, it was good to hear his voice again after so many weeks of no response at all.

Meanwhile, the fan support continued; in fact, it had increased after Sharon had mentioned in a blog that Ryan no longer needed critical care. The fact that Ryan had been so severely ill had rattled quite a few people. Ryan's family began judiciously sharing some of the information about the fan response with Ryan as a way to keep his spirits up when he got discouraged at what he perceived as his slow progress. At this point most of Ryan's understanding of his progress hinged on the physical, and the fact that it had taken him days to get strong enough to sit up for 15 minutes or to get himself to a wheelchair wasn't going over well. He wasn't really even seeing the memory and concentration issues he was having yet. Something else did come to mind one afternoon when Fiona and Nadine came to visit. They'd barely had time to see him awake, much less get to know him, before he'd been transferred out of the ICU.

He didn't remember them, of course, as he'd been unconscious for most of the time they'd worked with him, so for him it was like meeting new people. It was like that for them, as well. They both knew, of course, that the Ryan they were seeing wasn't his old normal self yet, but it was at least a glimpse, and as he was having a good day at the time, it was pleasant. That was, until Nadine asked him if he'd tried singing anything yet. He hadn't, as it simply hadn't occurred to him to try it. Now he did, and was appalled to find that he was having tremendous difficulty with his breathing - even singing quietly, he was out of breath before he could finish a line. This threw him into a serious agitated episode as it scared him that he wouldn't be able to go back to CT. Not even the boys' music helped this time, as it represented what he thought he was losing. Finally, Mrs. Kelly gave him the suggestion of calling David Munro, and the idea that there was someone he could talk to about the problem helped settle him down.

Mrs. Kelly placed the call to Sharon and told her what they needed. Sharon called David out of rehearsal to talk to Ryan and he was able to talk Ryan through his worries, reminding him of how he'd had to learn breath control when he'd started with CT and reassuring him that he could learn it again. He emailed information on breathing exercises to the Kellys, who shared them with Dr. Reilly. Dr. Reilly insisted that a respiratory therapist oversee the exercises initially as he didn't want Ryan to push too hard. The therapist had never worked with a professional singer before and was fascinated with the process, and in turn shared it with the speech therapists who often worked with patients who had trouble with breath support for speaking longer sentences.

One day, Ryan was having a particularly difficult day with all of his therapies, including the breathing exercises, as he was having a lot of trouble focusing. Feeling himself growing agitated, he said to the respiratory therapist, "Stop. Please."

"What's wrong?" asked the therapist.

"Can't. Too much." Ryan was so stressed he was having trouble putting words together. He started searching for his Ipod. "Music. Help me!" The therapist didn't know what Ryan was looking for, and he was getting steadily more agitated. The therapist was about to call the nurse when Mr. Kelly came back into the room. He recognized the agitation immediately.

"What do you need, Ryan?" he asked.

"Music! Can't find it!"

"Here." Mr. Kelly grabbed the Ipod from the drawer where Ryan had put it that morning. Handing Ryan the headphones, he turned the device on to shuffle through the recordings the boys had made. Ryan began to settle almost instantly as the familiar voices surrounded him. Closing his eyes, he relaxed back into his pillows.

The respiratory therapist pulled Mr. Kelly aside. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that's what he was looking for," she said.

"It's all right, but couldn't he tell you?"

She shook her head. "He asked me to stop, said it was too much, and then started looking for something and said 'music' and 'help me'. He really seemed to be having trouble with the words."

Mr. Kelly nodded. "Yes, that happens sometimes when he's starting to get overwhelmed. We'll have to find a way for him to keep that Ipod with him all the time so he doesn't lose it again. Usually we've been here with him and can get it for him, but we're trying to back out a little now and let him do more things on his own."

"Whatever he's listening to, it seems to be working. He's gone from agitated to smiling!" The therapist was surprised - in her experience, it usually took a lot longer for people to settle down.

"It's the other boys from his singing group - recordings they made for him before they left for a tour. Right now it's his lifeline since he can't have them with him. Thank God George thought of doing this, it's exactly what he needs when things get too hard. We knew the boys were close to each other, but we've really learned how much they rely on each other through all this."

The therapist nodded. "I'll make sure a note gets put on his chart and passed to all his therapists," she said. "That way if something like this happens again, we'll know what he needs. I'm going to give him a break today, he's obviously had a pretty rough day and I think he can use the down time."


	19. Chapter 19

While Ryan was relaxing with his music, George called to check in. Mr. Kelly stepped out of the room for a moment to talk to him.

"Hi, George," he said. "I am so glad you had the idea of putting that music in Ryan's Ipod. He's gotten to the point now where he knows he's losing control, and he'll ask for it; it always calms him down. It just saved us from a nasty episode with one of the therapists."

"I'm glad it's working," George replied, "And it's good to know he's starting to be able to keep himself in control. I guess today's been a bad day, then?"

"Yes," Mr. Kelly sighed. "He's so stressed right now he couldn't even get out a full sentence to tell me what he needed when he couldn't find the Ipod. He'd put it into one of the drawers this morning and didn't remember. But the therapist who was here is going to put a note in his chart so that all the other staff know that his Ipod is what he's looking for when he gets like that."

"That's a good idea," George agreed. He sighed, too. "I wish we could be there with him. The shows here are going well, and Colm's fitting right in, but we miss him, and we worry about him all the time since we aren't there. It's got to be hard on you as well with him bouncing between moods like this and being so impatient."

"It is," Mr. Kelly acknowledged. "We're never quite sure what we're dealing with from minute to minute. We're slowly starting to see bits of the old Ryan, but they're few and far between right now. I don't know if he'll be able to talk to you, but I'll ask him."

Mr. Kelly stepped back into Ryan's room. "Ryan?" he said quietly. "George is on the phone, do you want to talk to him?" Ryan nodded, dropping the headphones around his neck. Mr. Kelly passed him the phone.

"George?" Ryan said hesitantly, then smiled as George replied. He listened for a few moments then said, "No." He listened again and then said "No. Sing, please?" Mr. Kelly watched, smiling, as Ryan relaxed back on the pillows and closed his eyes.

On the other end, George had said to Ryan, "Not having a good day, eh, brother?" He grimaced at the few people around him as Ryan said, "No." "Do you want me to talk to you, or someone else?" He listened, and then started softly singing "Scarlet Ribbons". The others looked at each other in confusion. Normally Ryan was anxious to hear their voices.

When George had finished the song, he listened and then smiled gently. "I'm glad I could help, Mr. Kelly." he said "Hopefully that'll set him right." He disconnected the call.

"What was all that about?" Emmet burst out.

"Really bad day," George said. "Mr. Kelly said Ryan had gotten so stressed he couldn't even say a full sentence, but he is beginning to be able to tell when he's losing control and he'll ask for his Ipod to settle himself down. He couldn't find it this time and almost lost it but Mr. Kelly was able to get it to him. He'd been listening to it when I called. When Mr. Kelly gave him the phone, and I asked if he wanted someone to talk to him, he said 'No' and 'Sing, please'. Apparently I sang him to sleep." George wiped a tear from his eye as he finished.

"Hey, if that's what he needed, than that's fine, big G," Keith said, giving George a pat on the back. "That's what we're here for, right?"

"Aye," the big man agreed. "They're going to put a note in his chart so all the therapists know to look for his Ipod if he gets upset and starts hunting for something. He didn't remember where he put it this morning and he couldn't tell the therapist what he needed." It made all of them sad that something so simple could upset their brother that badly, but the fact that he could now get himself back under control was such a huge step that they felt like celebrating anyway.


	20. Chapter 20

Sharon was surprised, the next morning, to get a text from Ryan. Partly because she knew he wasn't allowed to have his phone, and partly because George had let them know how bad the previous day had been. When she opened it, she involuntarily groaned, because what it said was, "They want me to go to another hospital. I'm going home. Tell them to let me go home so I can get better and come back to recording." The staff in the production office looked at her curiously.

"It's from Ryan," she said. "I don't know how he got hold of his phone." Everyone started to crowd around her, wanting to see what he'd said, but she quickly blanked the screen and simply said, "He's giving out about being in the hospital. Wants to go home."

"Typical guy," Angie said with a grin. "Worst patients in the world."

Sharon excused herself, knowing that she needed to follow this up with a call - but not to Ryan immediately. She called his father instead.

"John, it's Sharon," she said. "I just got a text from Ryan telling me he's going home instead of to another hospital, and wanting me to back him up. What's going on, and how did he get his phone?"

Mr. Kelly sighed. "He convinced Raymond to bring it to him. Ray has it back again, though, he only let him have it for a few minutes. Anyway, Dr. Reilly is sending Ryan to a specialty brain injury rehabilitation center where they can really assess everything and find out exactly where he is in recovery terms. Ryan's been arguing with him and us since yesterday, he's convinced he just needs to go home and get his strength back and he'll be fine."

"That explains yesterday, then," Sharon said. "When he was so stressed he couldn't talk."

"Yes. We can't get him to see that there's more going on than just weakness. That's all he's focused on at the moment. He's not even understanding that the fact that he can't talk when he gets upset is anything to worry about. All he sees is that he can only sit or stand up for a few minutes and he can hardly walk even a few steps."

"Well, I suppose I'll have to be the bad guy again and tell him what's what," Sharon sighed. "I'm not letting him come back until we know exactly what he can and can't handle - I'll have to know that to be able to adjust things for him. Is now a good time to talk to him?"

"Best you're likely to get, I suppose," Mr. Kelly said. "He just had a pretty good physical therapy session, he managed to walk about 10 feet holding onto the parallel bars so he thinks he's ready to run again. Not really, but he's on an upswing at the moment."

"Well, that's good news anyway, he is getting stronger," Sharon said. "OK, let me talk to him." She mentally prepared herself for what might be a very disturbing discussion on both ends.

"Hey, Sharon!" Ryan said, sounding more like himself than any time Sharon had talked to him since he'd woken up. "Da didn't give away my good news, did he?"

Sharon hoped he meant the walking and not that he thought he was going home. "What news, Ryan?"

"I just walked the whole parallel bars by myself!" He sounded almost like an excited child announcing that he'd just ridden his bike for the first time on his own.

"That's fantastic, Ryan! You're getting a lot stronger, it's good to hear. So what's next?"

Ryan's voice flipped from happy to grumpy instantly. "They want to send me to another hospital. I just want to go home so I can get better. I don't need to be in the hospital anymore. I want to be back with you guys."

"I know," Sharon said carefully. "We'd like nothing more than to have you back with us tomorrow, but you're not ready for that yet, and it's still a few weeks until we'll be home anyway - and a few weeks past that before we start rehearsing. Why not go to this other hospital while you're waiting for us to get back?"

"I told you, I don't need to!" Ryan's temper was starting to rise again. Sharon knew she had to be careful.

"Ryan, you do still need to be there. You still can't walk or take care of yourself alone yet. The other hospital will help you do that. And before you come back to us, I need to know exactly what you can do - how strong you are, how you're going to hold up in rehearsals, how much break time you might need, even if it's going to take you longer to learn your songs and choreography. I told you I'd make changes if we need to for you to come back to us, but I can't do that until I know exactly what you need." She was afraid she'd gone too far and he was about to explode, and held her breath waiting for an answer.

Ryan swore, something Sharon had almost never heard from him. Then she heard Mr. Kelly's voice in the background saying sternly, "Ryan, don't you dare throw my phone! Give it to me." Then she heard a loud bang and another curse. She heard quiet voices for a minute and then what sounded like muffled crying. Finally Mr. Kelly came back on the line. "He kicked the bed rail," he said. "But once he got that out of his system, he just said, 'She's right, I know she's right, she always is. I'll go.' But he's curled up crying again, I think probably because he had to admit to himself that he's not as well as he wants to be."

"God, John, I'm sorry, this has to be so hard on you all. I wish I could do more for you."

"Sharon, don't you dare get down on yourself. You did exactly what we needed, you got him to listen to reason. I wasn't fancying having to sedate him or something to get him into the ambulance to take him to the center tomorrow morning; I'd rather he have his tantrum now and get it out of his system." Mr. Kelly sounded quite relieved, actually. "I'm almost glad he's crying, he's been bottling everything up for the last few days."

Sharon suddenly spotted Neil and Keith coming down the hallway. "Neil and Keith are here, would he like to talk to them? Tell them his big news?"

"I'll ask." Sharon heard Mr. Kelly talking and then he came back on. "He does, but he wants to talk to you first. Here he is."

"Sharon?" Ryan's voice was emotional again, as it had been the first time he'd spoken to them after he'd woken up.

"I'm here, Ryan." She grinned as she saw both Neil and Keith look up at her quickly, eager anticipation on their faces.

"I'm sorry for swearing at you. You're right. You haven't steered me wrong yet, even when I haven't listened to you before you've turned out to be right."

"It's fine, Ryan, don't worry about it. I think Keith and Neil are going to have to share the phone, neither one of them seems to want to let the other one talk first! I'm putting it on speaker for them."

"Hey, Ryan, how's it going? Better than yesterday?" Neil said. At the same time, Keith said, "Doing better today, man?"

Ryan's voice came through the speaker, sounding considerably happier than he had a moment ago. "Big news, lads," he said. "I walked the whole set of parallel bars by myself this morning, no help at all!" Sharon threw her hands over her ears just in time as Keith's "YEEEEOOOWWW!" echoed through the halls and brought people running from every direction, knowing that it had to be good news from Ryan to set him off into that yell.


	21. Chapter 21

Everyone was nervous and excited the next day, waiting for news of Ryan's move to the rehab hospital. They all knew it was a big step for him, although Sharon had not told any of them of his reluctance to go or the intervention she'd had to make. She simply told them, as she had the production staff, that he was complaining about having to be in the hospital. She passed the same message on to the fans through a blog, knowing they would see it as a welcome step towards recovery that Ryan had gotten hold of his phone when he wasn't supposed to.

Ryan's family was nervous, too. This would be a new and very different environment for Ryan, and they would not be with him throughout every day, only in the evenings to visit. It had been explained to them that the hospital fostered all forms of independence, and that also meant reducing reliance on immediate family presence as a support or buffer. Ryan would need to learn to cope with things on his own, and most importantly, ask for help if he needed it.

Ryan had been nervous about arriving in an ambulance, thinking that the new staff would think he was worse off than he was. That notion was immediately dismissed when the staff greeted him first and asked him to introduce who was with him. He was taken to his room and allowed to get his things put away where he wanted them, then taken, along with Raymond and Colette, on a tour of the hospital. Ryan's care manager, Shivaun, ushered his parents into her office to speak with them.

"I want you to know," she said, "that I will be asking Ryan these same questions, but since it's imperative for me to have as much information as possible, I'm also asking you in case he omits something. We've never had a professional performer as a patient here. Generally we have some clue to what our patients' occupations require, but in this case we're almost completely in the dark. What does a normal day look like for Ryan?"

Mr. and Mrs. Kelly looked at each other and started laughing. "I'm not sure there is such a thing as a normal day where Celtic Thunder is concerned," his mother said. "They are a rather unique bunch, as are the performances they give. Have you seen any of their work?"

"I did watch a few things on YouTube," Shivaun said, "But in that respect it looks quite a bit like any concert performance, really. I imagine there are rehearsals and sound checks involved, but that's about all I can come up with."

Mr. Kelly looked thoughtful. "Well, unique individuals aside, things can look very different depending on whether they are in rehearsal, filming, on tour, or doing promotional tours."

"All right, let's see if I can narrow things down a little," Shivaun said. "Do you know what Ryan's immediate goal is concerning the group?"

"Yes, although I'm not sure it's realistic," Mr. Kelly said. "They are scheduled to film a new show at the end of August, and Ryan is determined to be a part of it. They've all been very excited about it. He'd need to be able to go into rehearsals at the beginning of August at the latest."

"That is a big goal," Shivaun agreed. "What does being in rehearsals entail?"

"Initially, a lot of individual work with their musical director, working on solo songs and parts for ensemble pieces, as well as bringing everyone together for the ensemble pieces to work on putting things together. There are also choreography rehearsals; usually whoever isn't with the musical director is with the choreographer."

"I didn't notice a lot of dancing on the part of the singers," Shivaun said. "I assume the choreography, then, refers to their movements on stage, where they are supposed to be and so on, rather than actual dancing?"

"Yes, for the most part," Mrs. Kelly said. "Keith, who is one of the other singers, referred to it as 'swanky walking' once, early on."

"Ah, so the WAY they move as well, not just their location?"

"Yes," Mr. Kelly agreed. "Each of the boys has something of a designated 'character' in the show. Ryan is the 'bad boy', the one all the girls fall in love with even though they shouldn't. His movements tend to be more athletic than most of the other guys, he's frequently jumping off of things or running across the stage."

"Don't forget the kilt twirls," Mrs. Kelly reminded her husband, grinning.

"Kilt twirls?" Shivaun said. "I didn't see anything with them in kilts, what do they do?"

"Be very naughty, mostly." Mr. Kelly laughed. "They do their last number in kilts, and their producer once warned them to be careful when they turned around, so the kilts wouldn't fly up. Well, being the mischievous boys that they all are, they immediately started perfecting MAKING the kilts go up. They are only doing half turns, but when they want to they can have those kilts flying at waist height. It's become very popular with the fans, and the boys have been known to come up with, shall we say, non-regulation costume to wear underneath them at times. Never anything lewd, you understand, just something surprising - white boxers with shamrocks on them, for instance."

Shivaun couldn't help but laugh. "I think I'm beginning to understand about them being a unique bunch," she said. "So Ryan's initial return will be mostly vocal and movement rehearsals, then? Anything instrumental?"

"He does play guitar and tin whistle," Mrs. Kelly said, "But I don't remember him saying if he would be playing at all in this show. There is always a possibility, though. Most likely guitar."

Mr. Kelly added, " They are also going to be doing some additional film work, showing people where they live and around Dublin and such, as well as a "making of" video. That will also be done during the beginning of August, so he'll have some lines and things he'll need to remember. And they frequently have promotional work, interviews and such, to do as well during rehearsals. It's not unusual for them to be in rehearsal for 10 or more hours a day, although I know Sharon, his producer, will make any adjustments needed in that regard."

"She'll most likely have to," Shivaun said, nodding. "I can't see him being up to that sort of schedule so quickly."

"It won't be a problem," Mr. Kelly said firmly. "Sharon will adjust and make do as needed to do what's best for Ryan. If she needs to, she'll cut him from certain pieces or make his parts shorter or easier."

Shivaun looked concerned. "Is there any worry that he might be cut from the show if he can't keep up the pace?" she said.

"No." Mrs. Kelly shook her head. "She's promised Ryan that she would never cut him, that he has a part in the show as long as he wants one, even if she has to make changes. She'll make it work, and most likely she'll be more cautious with him than he would be himself. She has been before." She and Mr. Kelly looked at each other meaningfully.

Shivaun didn't want to pry, but felt she needed to follow this up. "Has he been injured before?" she asked.

"No," Mr. Kelly said slowly. "Let's just say that last summer Ryan had some disastrous emotional and legal issues happen that made him feel he would need to leave the group. He didn't have to, in the end, but Sharon put some additional restrictions around his involvement with fans for a while, which he wasn't too happy about, to protect him and allow him time to recover emotionally."

Shivaun nodded. "Then you know you can count on her to watch out for his best interests," she said. "That's all I needed to know. So after rehearsals, they'll film this new show?"

"Yes. That will most likely be several very long days, with at least 2 performances before live audiences, as it will be filmed live."

"Then what?" Shivaun had been taking notes the whole time.

"Then they start a 3-month tour of Canada and the US almost immediately."

Shivaun blinked. "Seriously? They'll be touring the show they filmed, I assume?"

"No." Mr. Kelly shook his head. "They won't tour that one until after the videos are released to the US public television stations, next spring. The tour is a 'Greatest Hits' thing, so it will be a completely different show than the one they film."

"Oh, my." Shivaun wasn't quite sure what to say to that. What Ryan wanted to do with the filming was daunting enough, but then to go immediately into another show and tour..."What exactly does touring entail? Do they fly between sites?"

"No, they use tour buses. They have, I think, 67 shows planned between the beginning of September and the beginning of December, all over the US and Canada. There will be three buses and two trucks worth of equipment traveling together, about 35 people in all. Usually they will get to a venue in the morning, the crew will set up while the singers do interviews or go sight-seeing, then they have rehearsal and sound checks and then the show. After the show they get back in the buses and travel to the next place overnight. Every few days they have a day off, either traveling in the buses or they'll stay in a hotel and have some down time."

"I see what you mean about Ryan's goal not necessarily being realistic. What about his fellow singers? Will they support him, or are they going to be upset if he can't pull his weight?"

"Oh, they'll support him, no question," Mrs. Kelly affirmed. "They all showed up at the hospital the night of his injury and didn't leave until they had to, to do performances in Atlantic City. They spent a lot of that time singing to him so he wouldn't fight his ventilator or the medications he was on - almost 2 weeks straight. They'll do anything he needs to help him get through it and never hold it against him if he needs a break. And Sharon is planning on taking the man who is understudying for him now along with them on tour even if Ryan is able to go."

"OK, then. I see we have our work cut out for us here, but a very supportive environment to go back to. Is there anything else I need to know about Ryan right now?"

"He's still having some episodes of agitation," Mr. Kelly said. "Usually if he starts getting scared that he won't be able to get back to the group. He is getting much better at letting us know that he needs a break, and usually he will ask for his Ipod. The other singers made recordings for him and left them for him, and he'll use those recordings to settle himself down. If he can't find the Ipod, things will escalate quickly. So it's important for him to have that with him at all times. Sometimes when he gets very stressed his ability to speak is very limited, and the most he can do is a few words, so it's hard for him to explain what he needs."

"That will be very helpful," Shivaun said. "Does he get aggressive when he's agitated?"

"Sometimes, but not often towards people. He only tried to hit someone once, and that was right after he woke up. He's pushed people away a few times, and thrown things, he almost threw my phone yesterday when Sharon told him he had to come here. Mostly he'll throw things across the room, kick things, and swear - all of which are very unusual for him."

"He didn't want to come here?" Shivaun asked. "But Sharon talked him into it?"

"Yes," Mrs. Kelly nodded. "He thinks he's just weak and will get better just fine at home. We had quite a few arguments with him, and he finally talked his brother into giving him his own phone and texted Sharon, telling her he was going home, not here, and asking her to back him up. Once she got the full story, she was able to talk him down and get him to agree to come. She's very much the 'mother' on the tour, and the boys often listen to her better than they listen to their own families."

"You keep referring to them as 'boys'," Shivaun said, puzzled. "I know Ryan's in his early thirties, are the others so much younger?"

"No." Mr. Kelly smiled. "They act like boys, even George, who is nearly 10 years older than Ryan. Emmet's the youngest and he's 21. But it's like having a gang of kids around when you get them all together, with the wrestling and pranks and slagging and such. They even refer to the others as 'the other boys', when they aren't calling each other 'brother'. They're very close."

Shivaun thanked the Kellys for the information and saw them out, then went back to her office to try to figure out how to convey this information to the staff that would be working with Ryan. It would definitely be a challenge, working with him; she thought that the man himself, his job, and his work colleagues sounded very unique indeed.


	22. Chapter 22

The next several days were interesting to say the least. The CT family was elated to hear of Ryan's successful move and that he was expected to take a full share in planning his care. By two days later, he was so exhausted that he could barely talk to them when they called, as he was in therapy for anywhere from 5-7 hours every day. At the same time, his family was already reporting progress - moving from the parallel bars to a walker, walking laps around the physical therapy gym, fewer instances of agitation and more ability to let people know when he needed a break. They were torn between worrying that he was being pushed too hard but being thrilled with his progress.

On the evening of the second day, Shivaun met with Ryan's care team and his family to discuss the results of his evaluations. Ryan had been expected to come, but had fallen asleep seconds after returning to his room after his last therapy, and everyone agreed it would be better to let him rest and give him a summary in the morning. Each of the therapists reported on what they had found in their testing.

Ryan's occupational therapist went first. She reported no concerns with self-care skills, although she did say that Ryan was hopeless in a kitchen - not unsafe, he just didn't know how to cook much of anything. She wasn't too concerned about this, as Ryan had reported that they had catered meals or went out when they were rehearsing or on tour, and he often ate at his parents' house when he was at home. She noted that he was naturally ambidextrous, using his left hand to write but his right hand for sports or instruments, and that testing she had done had confirmed this - and also showed that his ability to do fine manipulations, handle small parts, and move his fingers quickly was lacking at the moment and would need work. These were the sorts of skills he would need for his instrumental music.

The speech therapist reported next. Ryan's speech was clear and easy to understand, and he had no problem with understanding language unless it was very complex, in which case he was missing details of it regularly. She'd initially had concerns about partial paralysis of his face due to his tendency to smile with only one side of his mouth, but had quickly realized that it was habit rather than any lack of mobility. She was most concerned with his difficulties with being able to speak when he was under stress, which she'd seen firsthand towards the end of their sessions when he was tiring.

The cognitive therapist spoke third. He was quite concerned with Ryan's short-term memory, as he was having trouble recalling things he'd done very recently or being asked to remember something and then asked about it again a short while later. He had trouble focusing for any length of time if there was any other noise or action around him, and he tired rapidly with tasks requiring concentration even in a quiet environment. He was developing headaches after working with the therapist - a natural side effect of making the damaged parts of his brain function again, but troubling nonetheless. These would be the biggest obstacles to returning to his performing career, where he would be required to remember sudden changes in routine, to keep things in the correct order, and to think about multiple things at the same time in an environment that would be full of distractions. Some of these would also be the hardest things to modify for him.

The physical therapist spoke last. Maura was incredibly impressed with Ryan's progress already, as he'd gone from walking 10 feet in parallel bars to over 50 feet with a walker in just two days. His primary problems overall were simply decreased endurance and strength due to the prolonged bed rest, but he was also having some balance issues, primarily due, Maura felt, to weakened core muscles rather than to any actual damage to the balance centers of his brain. She reported that he was already exceeding what she'd set up for exercise programs for him, adding extra repetitions or asking for more exercises. He clearly enjoyed the physical workouts and didn't find them particularly stressful, and Maura suggested that this be his last therapy of the day, partly so he wouldn't already be physically tired when he went to his other therapies, and partly because he'd be better able to cope with the physical activity at the end of the day rather than more cognitive work.

Overall, it was a far better report than anyone had really expected, and optimism was high that Ryan would at least meet his goal of being able to participate in the filming, with modifications needed to his rehearsal schedule and possible limitations on how many songs he would be able to take part in.

Mr. Kelly called Sharon as soon as the meeting was over and reviewed the major issues with her, which she in turn shared in detail with David Munro and with the other singers and the band, as they would be the ones primarily affected by Ryan's needs. Everyone else was given a summary, not hiding any of the issues, but not going into quite as much detail. Sharon knew the full details would filter through the group anyway, but in truth the crew and production staff would not be affected much in their work. They would need to know what to look for as signs of trouble when they were interacting with Ryan as they all did socializing and relaxing, but they wouldn't need to change their routines to accommodate him.

Any down time between shows for the singers was being spent brainstorming ways to arrange quiet areas and times for Ryan to rest, ways to limit the amount of noise and clutter in the bus and dressing rooms, etc. It was now less than a month until they would be starting rehearsals, and they were determined to bring him back and have him be able to be part of Mythology and the tour, no matter how much it meant they had to change and adjust for themselves.


	23. Chapter 23

The next week's updates were truly progress reports. Every day there was something new to report - no longer needing the walker and beginning to walk to therapies, improvements with handling small parts (the CT family was quite amused to find that Ryan's therapists had given him Star Wars LEGO toys to build as part of his therapy), less difficulty with memory and concentration. The day that both Ryan and his parents reported that he hadn't lost his temper in 3 days was cause for a huge celebration that left a lot of the CT family easily agitated themselves the next morning. Ryan was still having problems with confusion and withdrawal when he was overstressed, but the episodes were less frequent and shorter.

One evening when the boys talked to Ryan (they'd given up on passing the phone around and just put it on speaker, since several of them talking at once was no longer too much for Ryan to cope with, at least for short periods), he told them, "I almost blew my cover this morning!" They knew that he had chosen not to tell his fellow patients that he was a professional singer.

"What'd you do, Ry?" Keith said with a grin. "Hit some poor therapist with a blast of Dark Destroyer?"

Ryan laughed. "No," he said, "But I did forget myself and start singing while I was working on those LEGO sets. Didn't even realize I was doing it until the man working next to me told me I should sing out more and let everybody enjoy it."

"So did you?" Neil wanted to know.

"Yeah, after I cleared it with my therapist. It was fun, and everybody seemed to be enjoying it. Seemed to perk everybody up. A couple of people told me I should go professional when I was leaving for my next therapy."

"Nah, that'd never work. Who'd pay to listen to you?" George said, completely deadpan, which brought a burst of laughter from everyone.

"How'd you do with the breathing?" Emmet asked tentatively. He was almost afraid to bring the subject up since it had been such an issue earlier.

"A lot better," Ryan replied, bringing sighs of relief. "I can get through the lines now, at least, but I'm still out of breath at the end of a song. They've got me standing up while I'm working, and I'd have to sit down as soon as I finished. When I was just singing to myself I could stay up a lot longer, but trying to project it was tough."

"Well, you're getting there, then, brother. We'll have you back soon at this rate." George said.

"God, I hope so," said Ryan. "I'm sick of the hospital, I'm actually starting to get bored at times. I wish they'd give me my phone and my laptop back."

"So do we, then we could be in touch more often, and we could actually see your ugly mug over Skype," Neil teased.

"My rotten haircut, you mean," Ryan said. "I don't know why they had to shave only half my head, it would look a lot better if they'd just shaved the whole thing. I look lopsided." This brought a number of retorts about how he always did look lopsided with that smirk of his anyway, so what was he complaining about?

A few days after that, Sharon got a request for a conference call with Shivaun and the Kellys. She knew things had been going well, so she hoped it was just a formal update. Closing herself into her room with the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, she waited for the call. After the greetings, Mr. Kelly said, "We need some ideas here. Ryan is convinced that since he's handling things well here in the hospital, he's ready to go home. It's true he's made incredible progress, but there are still a lot of issues that he isn't seeing."

"How long do you think he still needs to be there?" Sharon asked.

Shivaun answered. "Well, with anyone else we'd probably say another month, but Ryan is so far ahead of normal timelines that I think two weeks would be sufficient - if we can keep him motivated and enthusiastic."

"Why do you think he's not ready to go home yet?" Sharon asked. "I'm not second-guessing you, just trying to understand."

"Ryan's handling things well in the hospital - a small, enclosed environment that has a steady schedule and routine. He hasn't been out of the hospital at all yet, and he's still not ready to cope with the level of distractions and the lack of routine outside yet," Shivaun explained.

Sharon thought for a moment. "That makes quite a lot of sense," she said. "I seem to remember you saying that there were ways he could get out of the hospital for a day, or out to a movie or something, is that right?"

"Yes, and that's an option we had considered, but we wanted to get your opinion," Mr. Kelly said.

"Well, my thought is that you should let him have a day at home, and don't try to make things easy for him. Treat it as an ordinary day - talk to him, have a few friends over to see him but don't tell him when they're coming. If he can manage it, then he was right; if he can't then you'll have ammunition to back yourselves up."

"That's a brilliant idea," said Shivaun. "We can easily let him have a day at home this weekend."

"The other boys told me that Ryan said he's getting bored at times - has he mentioned that to you at all?" Sharon wanted to know.

"No, he hasn't, not in so many words. He has been pestering us to bring his guitar for him, though. If he's bored, it would help explain why he thinks he's ready to leave," Mrs. Kelly said.

"Let him have his guitar, and I can even have David send one or two of his solo pieces for him to start working on," Sharon said. "There is one we're hoping he'll be able to play guitar for, and giving him additional time to work on it and get his hands back in practice won't hurt. Shivaun, would he be allowed to have his phone or his laptop there?"

"Yes, we can arrange for that," Shivaun said. "What are you thinking of?"

"Well, for one thing, we could send him sound files of the music for his songs so he has something to sing along with," Sharon replied. "And it will give him a chance to get back out onto social media and see the tremendous support his fans are sending, which will keep him motivated to get done and get back to us. Not to mention him being able to get back in contact with them - it's something he values very highly and I'm sure he's missing it. I know the fans are; no matter how often I send out information, I'm getting hundreds of requests for updates on how he's doing every day."

"Really?" Shivaun said, intrigued. "That seems unusual to me, is it common in the entertainment world?"

"Not really, not the way we do it," Sharon laughed. "By their own choice, the boys are in frequent contact with their fans through Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram - in Ryan's case, it's been daily or even multiple times per day up until this injury. The fans worry about the boys when they don't hear from them; in fact I'd been getting nearly as many questions about Neil as I had about Ryan until recently. Neil wasn't posting anything because he couldn't think about anything but Ryan and he wasn't allowed to say anything about him, so he just didn't post. The other boys started including Neil in some of their pictures and such just to let the fans know he was OK."

"How incredible," Shivaun said, quite stunned.

"That's why we say we have the best fans in the world," Sharon said. "They're almost part of the family at this point."

Mrs. Kelly laughed. "Yes, they've been amazing," she said. "Not only have they been sending get well cards for Ryan, they've been sending notes to us in them as well, letting us know they are thinking of us and praying for us. Shivaun, if you haven't been to Ryan's room lately, you need to go look; he's got one whole wall almost completely covered with cards and pictures from fans."

"I'll do that," Shivaun said. "One thing I don't need to worry about with this patient is adequate support systems, I see!"


	24. Chapter 24

During the next day's phone call, Ryan excitedly said," Guess what, lads! I get to go home this weekend!"

"For good?" Neil asked, surprised.

"No, just for the day, but at least I'll be out of here for a while. It'll be good to be back home again - well, with my parents, anyway. And I'll get to see some of my friends in the Moy."

"That's great, man!" Keith agreed. "Get something besides hospital food into you!"

Ryan hadn't told anyone in CT that he couldn't smell or taste anything, as he was hoping it would come back. So even though the way the food tasted didn't matter to him, he agreed that it would be good to get some home cooking again.

Sharon put out a blog saying that Ryan would get a visit home for a day and that he was still complaining about being in the hospital. She said she was expecting that he'd be exhausted by lunchtime and would realize he wasn't ready to go home yet, and again, it was a source of great relief for the fans to know that he was well enough to go home even for the day. It was also a relief to Sharon that she could be a bit more open about where he really was in his recovery.

When the boys spoke to him again after his trip home, they were surprised to hear him somewhat subdued. Initially they assumed that he was just upset to have had to come back to the hospital, until he told them what had happened.

"I guess I'm not doing as good as I thought I was," he said sadly. "I couldn't even get through the trip home and talking with my parents without overloading. I couldn't keep track of what we were talking about in the car, and I just completely shut down when I got to the house. It was kind of embarrassing."

"Take it easy on yourself, Ryan," advised George. "You took a pounding in that fall, it's going to take time for everything to work itself right again. You're getting better every day, and we've still got weeks until rehearsals start; use it. Tell us what was good about being home."

He talked to them then about seeing Molly and Rory, his dog and cat, and how excited Molly had been, and that Rory had immediately curled up on his legs and barely left him. It had been good for him to see them and be with them. He also told them that his friend Dermot, who had been on the ambulance crew the night he was hurt, had come to see him, and how emotional he'd been to see Ryan doing so well. Dermot had been very worried indeed over the last weeks, even though he'd heard the updates that got passed throughout the whole village, and had spoken to some people who'd had a chance to visit with Ryan after he was out of intensive care. It had done him a great deal of good to see and talk to Ryan, and for Ryan to know that there was at least one person in the Moy who understood how the head injury affected everything.

Ryan then told them that he would have his laptop and phone back in a few days, and that he had his guitar and was already working on drills to loosen up his fingers. He would also be getting music from David Munro to start working on for Mythology. This was the first concrete sign that he might be back with them for that show, and it made all of them feel much better. Ryan promised to text them all the moment he got his phone back. Then Keith remembered something.

"Hey, I just realized we'll be home after this week! I'm going to talk to Sharon and see if she'll set something up so we can all come and see you," he said.

"That would be great," Ryan said, and they could hear the smile in his voice. "I miss you guys so much, you have no idea."

"Oh yes, we do," Emmet said. "We miss you just as much. Colm's a great guy, and he may be singing for you, but there's still a huge empty space over here. Having him here is fine, but it's not you." This led to a load of slagging on Emmet about how close he and Colm had already gotten and how they were in a 'bromance' with each other, leaving Ryan laughing as they ended the call.

Keith immediately went and found Sharon and asked her if there was a way they could visit Ryan when they got home, as a group. Sharon thought that was a fantastic idea, and promised to see if Ryan could get a pass to get out of the hospital and go to dinner with them on the Friday evening after they got home, and to arrange a van to get everyone there. After talking with Shivaun, she decided to limit the group to the other singers and the band, as she was afraid that more than that at once would be too much for Ryan to cope with yet. The crew wasn't too happy to be 'left out' once again, but cheered up when Sharon told them that there was no reason they couldn't visit Ryan individually, she just didn't want to overwhelm him with the whole CT family at once.


	25. Chapter 25

The next week was one of those that goes incredibly quickly and incredibly slowly at the same time. Ryan didn't have time to be bored anymore now that he had music to work on, but he was getting his fingers working on the guitar again - and was quite pleased to tell the other lads that he'd been discharged from his occupational therapy as he didn't need it anymore. He'd also sent out a few posts to the fans and had been deluged with joy, relief and further good wishes. The guys were busy with shows and interviews as well as the general nonsense that occurred on every CT tour. But every time any of them thought about the fact that they'd be seeing each other soon, time seemed to slow down to a crawl until something took their minds off it.

CT had flown home on Wednesday, and Keith had gone home to Donegal, but everybody else stayed in Dublin or nearby. Sharon had rented a van and everyone would be going up together, with Keith meeting them at the hospital since it wasn't too far from where he lived. Colm had decided not to come, as he didn't want to interfere with the reunion, and Declan suddenly had to back out due to a family commitment, so the eventual group consisted of Sharon, Emmet, Keith, George, Neil, Barry, Seana, Laura, and Nicole. Keith had promised he'd wait for them outside the hospital, and he did, but he was nearly bouncing with excitement when the van pulled up and everybody piled out. Not that any of the other men were any calmer; the concept of seeing Ryan awake and alert was making them nuts. The women were excited, too, but they had decided that they had better control and would behave themselves. As everyone got themselves sorted out, George and Emmet had a quick chat.

"Hey, Emmet," George whispered." I just had a thought. I think it probably wouldn't be a good idea to dogpile Ryan like we did with Damian, and as wound up as everyone is, we probably would."

"Yeah," Emmet agreed. "Knocking him down again probably isn't a really good plan. But there's no way we're getting everybody calmed down. What should we do?"

"Tell you what," George said. "We make sure we're in the front and get into his room first, and if he's standing up, we each go to one side and get an arm behind him before everybody else hits. If he's sitting down, we probably don't need to worry about it." Emmet nodded in agreement.

Sharon herded them all into the lobby of the hospital and asked for Shivaun, who had wanted to greet them when they arrived. She came out of her office and smiled when she saw the group waiting there, the men nudging and whispering and laughing at each other while the women were trying to ignore them but not being able to hide their laughter. She and Sharon greeted each other and then Sharon got everybody quieted down enough to introduce them to Shivaun. She pointed them down the main hallway, telling them to wait for her at the end, and the boys practically ran ahead, jostling each other as they went.

"Are they always like this?" Shivaun asked. "How in the world do you get them to get any work done?"

"This is a little over the top even for them," Sharon laughed. "Remember, the last time they saw Ryan he was still in the coma and barely responding. But, yes, they are a pretty rowdy bunch, and Ryan's just as bad as the rest of them. But USUALLY, once the music starts they settle down and focus - not always, and somebody is bound to try and throw the others off on purpose, but they can be professional when they need to be."

"From what I can tell," Shivaun said, "Ryan couldn't ask for a better bunch of friends - or fans for that matter. He's got letters and pictures all over his room from the fans, and the things they write are just amazing, how much they support him." They had reached the corner, and Shivaun pointed them down the hall to the left, telling them Ryan's was the 5th room on the left past the cross hallway - and the guys were off, unable to restrain themselves, George and Emmet stepping out just a bit ahead of the others as they had planned. The noise they were making was tremendous, and staff and other patients were turning and coming to look out of doors, unable to help but grin or laugh at the obvious excitement. Nicole, Seana, and Laura were rolling their eyes, but they weren't exactly taking a leisurely stroll down the hall either.

Meanwhile, Ryan was standing in his room talking with Maura, his physical therapist, who had come up with him after therapy to meet the guys. He heard them coming and stood looking at the door in anticipation, but Maura was seriously worried they were going to knock him over as they were coming so fast, and started to move towards him to guard him, but Ryan shook his head and told her to stay where she was, or she'd get run over.

She didn't need to worry. George and Emmet's plan worked out perfectly - they came through the door first, saw Ryan standing, glanced at each other and nodded, and then split. Each got to one side of Ryan and got an arm around him before the others hit, so the three of them took the shock together and Ryan was never in any danger. It was a massive chaotic group hug, milling around with everyone getting a chance to hug Ryan. Seeing him on his feet, smiling and laughing, was such a contrast from the way they'd seen him last that they couldn't settle themselves down. Keith, though, when he wrapped his arms around Ryan and hugged him, was appalled at how thin he was and had noticed that he had needed George and Emmet's assistance to stay on his feet when they got to him. It hit him like a brick - seeing Ryan and talking to him on Skype, he'd seemed almost back to normal, but here in the room with him, it was clear he wasn't. He was so thin his watch slid up nearly to his elbow when he raised his hand, and he looked so fragile that Keith was surprised they hadn't hurt him hitting him like that. He could feel a lump rising in his throat and knew he had to get out of the room before he started crying. Fortunately, Ryan gave him the opportunity he needed to disappear by saying, laughing, "All right now! Get off of me, you lot, and let me breathe, will you!" In the ensuing bustle, as the men moved apart and the women came in to greet Ryan, Keith was able to slip out the door unobserved, or so he thought. Both Sharon and Maura had seen him go.

He made his way quickly down the hall and stepped inside a small chapel he'd noticed as they passed. It was quiet and calm in there, and he knew he'd have a few minutes to get himself together. Leaning against the wall, his head dropped and he started crying silently. There was no way Ryan was going to be able to tour with them - it would be a miracle if they got him through even part of Mythology. It hurt more than he could imagine to think of a whole tour without Ryan because he was too weak to go. He was grateful that Ryan was well enough to be on his feet, but it hurt so badly to see his friend, once strong and agile, so frail that he could be knocked down by a hug.

Suddenly a woman's voice that he didn't know spoke. "Keith?" she said. "Sharon said I might be able to help you with what's worrying you. I'm Ryan's physical therapist."

Keith opened his eyes, seeing a petite young woman standing in front of him. Ryan had told them about his physical therapist, how tiny but how strong she was, and this woman fit the description. He looked down at the floor. "He looks so weak", he said. "He'd have fallen over if George and Emmet hadn't braced him. Recording and rehearsing are bad enough, but they can be adjusted to fit what he needs to a certain point. But touring's grueling, and there's no way to adjust the schedule for illness. There's no way he's going to be ready to do that. It was hard enough doing two weeks without him, it's going to be miserable doing the whole fall tour."

"When do those things start?" the woman asked.

"Rehearsing and recording the backstage stuff at the beginning of August, recording the DVD towards the end of August, and then the fall tour - which is a completely different show than the one we're filming - starts at the beginning of September."

"I think he'll surprise you," she said. "Heaven knows, I've come up with a new workout every day that I think will be a challenge for him, and every day he goes beyond what I've set him. He's already nearly a month ahead of where he really should be. We were playing basketball an hour ago."

Keith looked up, his eyes more hopeful now. "Really? He looks like he could barely make it down the hall."

"I'm sure he's lost a lot of muscle mass," she said, "And that makes him, I suppose, look weak or frail to you. I didn't know him before he came here, of course, and I can tell you that even though he's thin, the strength and endurance are coming back rapidly. If you keep looking out for him like - what were their names, George and Emmet? - did just now, he'll be just fine."

Keith grinned at her. "Thanks," he said seriously. "I needed to hear that. I'd better get back or they'll leave for dinner without me." The therapist walked back to the room with him and they slipped inside. Ryan noticed them and introduced everyone to Maura, telling them that she was the slave driver who was working him mercilessly in physical therapy. They all knew he enjoyed the sessions with her, so they all were kidding with him about it. Maura looked at Sharon and gave her a thumbs up, and when Keith got the chance, he quietly thanked her for sending Maura after him. He was still worried, but she'd eased his fears considerably.


	26. Chapter 26

Shivaun had stayed in the hallway, talking with staff and other patients, and she'd heard the boisterous reunion, and then seen Keith leave the room, clearly upset, and duck into the chapel. She was just about to go after him when she saw Maura come out of the room, pause, and then head purposefully towards the chapel and enter it as well. She knew she'd be able to get a report on the situation from Maura afterwards. After a few minutes, the two came out of the chapel and headed back to Ryan's room, Keith looking considerably less distressed.

A few minutes after that, the crowd came out of Ryan's room, Ryan in the middle with one of Keith's arms slung casually over Ryan's shoulders - but judging by the intent, analyzing look on Keith's face, the actual reason for that was anything but casual. Shivaun considered this as she watched. The guys were being what seemed to be their usual rowdy selves, Ryan right along with them, but every time one of them got close to Ryan, Keith's arm would tighten protectively. Considering the general chaos that surrounded him, Ryan was holding up well, but Shivaun would be surprised to hear that he hadn't withdrawn at least once if the evening continued like this. Still, that probably wasn't a bad thing, she mused; if they were going to help Ryan, they needed to know the danger signs.

Maura came up beside her. "Keith's very perceptive," she said. "He's worried that Ryan won't be strong enough to get back to work with them. He's not the only one though, George and Emmet had clearly planned out to protect Ryan when they got to him" and she told Shivaun what had happened in the room and the chapel. "I'd bet you anything," she finished, "that Keith is doing his own version of one of my assessments right now, finding out just how much Ryan can handle."

"No takers," Shivaun laughed. "I agree with you. They are an interesting bunch, no doubt about that! I can see why Mr. and Mrs. Kelly call them 'the boys', they certainly are, but in other ways they are very mature indeed - and it's clear they care about Ryan very deeply. And I think," she added, "that we've just had our first glimpse of the true Ryan. I've never seen him quite that animated."

Maura laughed. "You should have seen what he did to me right before they got here," she said. "I was looking at the cards and pictures on his wall and I asked him why so many of them referred to him as 'Heartbreaker' and 'Dark Destroyer'. He decided to show me!"

"Oh?" Shivaun asked, raising her eyebrows.

"He changed completely," Maura said, shaking her head. "I wasn't looking at him, but when he spoke to me I whirled around because I could have sworn someone else had come into the room. His voice sounded completely different and he almost looked like somebody else - dark and dangerous, arrogant, almost evil, but very attractive - the kind of guy that would take a girl, get what he wanted, and then throw her away without a care in the world, but the girls would still go because they wouldn't be able to help themselves. I would never have thought Ryan had that in him. And then he winked at me and suddenly he was back to the Ryan I know, laughing at me! I could barely see what he changed about his posture and body language when he switched back. It was absolutely amazing."

"His parents told me he plays the 'bad boy' of the group," Shivaun said. "Sounds like he's still got it. That bodes well for his getting back to work, as long as we can get him strong enough to hold up to it."

_

Keith was doing exactly what Maura had guessed - with his arm around Ryan's shoulder, he could feel if his friend lost his balance or was having trouble keeping up with them. Since it was something he was perfectly likely to do with any of them at any time, it wasn't obvious what he was doing and Ryan wouldn't feel the need to pretend to be able to do more than he could. By the time they got to the van, Keith was much reassured - Ryan had had no trouble keeping up with them or fending off any of the nonsense the other guys threw at him. Something told Keith, though, that it might not be a bad idea to have a second vehicle in case Ryan got overwhelmed or too tired before they were done with dinner, so he decided to take his car and follow the van.

They had a private room at the restaurant, so things really didn't calm down any there. As usual, they all ate heartily, Ryan tucking in with the rest of them. But Emmet, sitting next to him, noticed something odd. Although Ryan had ordered something that Emmet knew he liked, Ryan was paying almost no attention to his food at all, simply scooping up whatever ended up on his fork and eating it.

"Are you really that hungry, dude?" he said. "You're shoveling it in like you haven't eaten in weeks!"

"I didn't," said Ryan, grinning. "Still making up for it, you know?"

"You could at least look like you're enjoying it, then! I don't think you even know what's on your fork!"

Ryan glanced down at his plate sadly, then looked at Emmet. "I don't," he said. "Lost my sense of taste and smell, completely. I've learned to just eat it rather than look at it; if I look at it, I expect to taste it, and then I don't. It's easier this way."

Emmet gaped at him. "You're kidding," he said. It was something none of them had ever considered might be lost - they'd thought about paralysis, balance, speech, but never something like that. It had never even occurred to Emmet that you could lose your sense of taste or smell from a brain injury.

"Nope," Ryan said. "Wish I was, mate. But if this is what I had to lose, I'll take it; better than most other things I could have lost. The docs say it might come back with time, they keep reminding me how short a time it's been since the injury, and how slowly brain tissue heals."

After dinner they were all sitting around with coffee and tea, and the rowdiness continued. Neil, sitting across from Ryan, suddenly noticed that Ryan hadn't said anything for a while and glanced over at him - and then stopped, staring. Ryan was looking straight ahead, his eyes unfocused and blank, no expression at all on his face. Neil was frightened for a second and then realized that this must be the withdrawal that had been described to them. Certainly the noise in the room was enough to overwhelm someone, a few of the waitresses had looked startled when they'd entered. He thought for a second and then realized that the best thing to do would be to rein in the chaos and see if Ryan could come back to them.

"Hey guys," he said, raising his voice to get their attention. "Calm it down a bit. Ryan's phased out on us, it's too much for him."

Everyone stopped talking almost immediately and looked nervously at Ryan, not having experienced this before, but knowing they'd have to get used to it and watch for it if they were to help him get back to the group. Sharon was alert, watching and listening both for Ryan's reactions and how her other performers were reacting to it.

The room stayed silent for what felt like half an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. Then Keith broke the silence. "Damn, that's weird," he said. "Sitting right there, but it's like he's not there at all."

Ryan startled them all by speaking. "I CAN hear you, you know," he said quietly. His eyes still looked blank and empty, even though he was clearly alert.

They were all curious - they hadn't realized that he could be in this withdrawal and confusion but still able to react and talk to them. It had sounded like an absolute withdrawal when they'd talked about it with Ryan's family, but maybe now that he was getting better it wasn't the same any more. Finally Laura asked, "What's it feel like?"

"Hard to describe," Ryan answered, very slowly, searching for the words. "Like I'm way off in the distance and everything's jumbled up in my head, it's hard to make sense of anything. Hard to find the words to put together." He paused for a moment, then said, "Sometimes music helps to get things kind of reorganized."

Neil started singing softly, the high, clear, impossibly sweet, almost unearthly voice that only he could produce. And to Neil's utter horror, Ryan burst into tears, buried his face in his hands, and pushed back his chair, trying to run from the room. He never got a chance to even get out of his chair. They were all around him in an instant, standing or kneeling beside him, wrapping their arms around whatever part of him they could reach or around each other if they couldn't reach him. To their further dismay, he fought against them briefly, but then gave in to it and just let himself cry. Eventually, as the tears started to die down, Ryan choked out, "I'm...sorry. You...didn't need…to see that."

George said it for all of them. "It's a heck of a lot better than seeing you in that bed, not even knowing we were there. I'll take this, any day. What are brothers and sisters for, if not to help you through stuff like this?"

Neil, who was crying himself, said softly, "I'm sorry, Ryan, I didn't mean..." Ryan reached for him and the others made room, letting Ryan pull him close. "It's OK, Neil. I didn't know it would happen either, but I needed it. I've been trying so hard to stay strong and I haven't let myself get through all that. Hearing you singing, right here next to me, let everything open up and come out. It's good. It's all good."


	27. Chapter 27

They talked then for a while, mostly giving Ryan a chance to tell them what it was like dealing with this, the memories he'd recovered and the ones that were still missing, and the things he was still having trouble with. But it rapidly became obvious that Ryan was exhausted and even though he wanted to stay with them, it would be best for him to go back to the hospital and get some rest. They reminded him that since they were home now, they'd see him soon, and Sharon told him that the crew would also be coming to visit as well. Keith told everyone, flat out, that he was taking Ryan back rather than sending him in the van, and no one was about to argue with his tone of voice. As they were walking out to his car, Ryan said," Thanks, mate. Much as I love them, I don't think I could take all of them in the van again right now."

"That's what I figured," Keith said. "Every time we started to get loud again after you came back, you looked like it hurt."

Ryan nodded. "It was making my head ache," he agreed. "I pushed further than I should have because I didn't want to leave all of you. I knew I was getting close to overloading, but I didn't say anything."

Keith looked at him sternly. "You're gonna have to stop doing that, mate. Talk to us. You know we'll do anything we need to to make this work, but pushing yourself past what you can handle isn't going to help."

Ryan couldn't help grinning. They so rarely saw Keith in this mood. "OK," he said, "then I'm telling you we need to make this a quiet ride back. No more lectures." Keith laughed and made a gesture as if he was zipping his lips shut, and didn't say another word until they were back at the hospital.

When they got back, they found Shivaun waiting for them. She was about to approach and ask them how things had gone when Keith shook his head and glanced at Ryan. Shivaun saw that he was wiped out and motioned them on, but Keith knew she'd be waiting for him when he came out.

Once inside the door of Ryan's room, Keith pulled Ryan into a tight hug. "God, it's good to have you back, man," he said. "It was awful trying to get through the AC shows without you. I kept turning around to find you and you weren't there. Colm's a rock, he managed everything with hardly enough rehearsal time to even know when he needed to be on stage, but nothing sounded right with his voice instead of yours."

Ryan pulled away enough to look at him. "I'm not back singing yet, you know," he said softly. "I'm determined to be there for Mythology and for the tour, you know that."

"And you will be," Keith said firmly. "I know that." He was sure now, having seen how much Ryan really was able to handle, that they could make things work. He said good night, leaving Ryan to get himself ready for bed, and headed out to the main lobby where, as he'd expected, he found Shivaun waiting for him.

"How did things go?" she asked worriedly. "Overdid it a bit, did he?"

"Aye," Keith replied. "He made it through till after dinner, but then he got overloaded. Told me afterwards he knew it was going to happen but he pushed himself anyway. We were surprised, he actually did talk to us a little while he was messed up. We didn't think he could."

"Initially, he couldn't" Shivaun said. "Now it's not so much a complete withdrawal as just not being able to process everything fast enough to keep up."

"That's pretty much what he told us," Keith agreed. "That'll get better, won't it?"

"It should, but it will take time. It's possible he'll have episodes like that for months yet, especially if he keeps pushing himself too hard. He's going to have to listen to what his body and his brain are telling him, and rest when he needs to."

Keith laughed. "That's almost exactly what I told him. And he told me to stop lecturing him and let him have a quiet ride back." They both laughed and then Keith headed home - although he sent an update to everyone to let them know that Ryan was safely back in his room and that they'd talked about him needing to let someone know when he needed a break.


	28. Chapter 28

As it turned out, the next week was Ryan's last week in the hospital. Everyone agreed that he was ready to go home. Ryan asked Shivaun if she could gather the staff and some of the patients he'd gotten close to together in the hospital auditorium one afternoon, as he had a surprise for them. Shivaun guessed what he wanted to do, although he didn't tell her.

When they were all gathered, she watched with pride as Ryan came up front with his guitar. "You know," he said, "that I've been singing in occupational therapy, and that you've heard me playing and singing in my room in the evenings. Some of you told me you thought I could be a professional singer. Well, I have a confession to make." He grinned. "I AM a professional singer - for the last 5 years, I have been part of a group called Celtic Thunder, which some of you may have heard of." There were a few gasps at this. "The only reason I didn't tell anyone -apart from the staff - is because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back to it. But I've been working with our musical director online, and in person this last week, and I know now that I can - and you lot get to be the audience for my first post-injury concert. I go back into rehearsal with the group next week for a performance in Dublin at the end of August and for a new tour in September."

Shivaun's eyes filled with tears at that. Even she hadn't known this. The joy in Ryan's face and eyes was incredible as he waited out the applause, and Shivaun wasn't the only staff member blinking back tears. As the audience quieted down, Ryan ducked his head and began strumming on the guitar, and then lifted his head again and began to sing "Ride On", continuing afterwards with "Brothers in Arms", "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", and "Friends in Low Places" - although he never finished that one, as David had set up a wind-up on him and sent all the boys to the hospital, telling them to come in as they had in "Voyage" - and as they walked in the doors singing their hearts out, Ryan simply stopped, gaping at them all and then sat down heavily in the closest chair and watched them finish the song, speechless. The cheers from the audience rivaled any concert he'd ever done, and the boys mobbed him in a group hug afterwards, more that one of them with tears running down their faces as well.


	29. Chapter 29

Ryan was puzzled when the guys dragged him back up to the front for another song. He said to them quietly, "Look, I'd only worked on those 4, I can't manage a lot of songs in a row yet. I'm not ready for anything else."

Neil grinned. "I promise you this one won't be a problem."

Keith piped in, "Anyway, you can't say you're back singing with us because you haven't yet - you stopped when we came in. It's not official until you sing WITH us." He was grinning, so Ryan knew he wasn't seriously saying he wasn't part of them - he was just being Keith.

"Oh, all right," Ryan said. He looked out at the audience, who seemed politely puzzled. "If you hadn't figured it out yet, these are the other lads from Celtic Thunder, and I have NO idea what they're up to. They weren't supposed to be here. I didn't plan this."

Sharon and David both stuck their heads in the door from the hallway. "No, we did!" they chorused. Ryan ducked his head into his hand, shaking it wildly.

"I should have known," he groaned. To the audience, he explained, "That's our musical director and producer, and I should have known they'd be mixed up in this somehow. All right, so what are you putting me on the spot for?"

"No worries, brother, " George said. "Just chime in when it's your turn!" They all scrambled to stand side by side, and George started singing, "Side by side, we stand like brothers..." Ryan's face split into a huge grin, and he joined in with more gusto than they'd yet heard from him, hitting his notes and timing perfectly. Sharon and David looked at each other and nodded, grinning. Not only had they successfully pulled their first wind-up on Ryan since his accident, he'd risen to it perfectly - something they knew he'd need to do at some point once he was back performing, as on-stage wind-ups and even just sudden changes were inevitable. It had been a calculated risk - if he'd flubbed it, they might have had a job getting his confidence back up - but now that he hadn't, they knew he'd be ready for anything they could throw at him.

After that song, everyone started mingling. Shivaun had already noticed the patience and compassion that Ryan had for the more severely injured patients, and she found that the other boys were just the same. Even Keith's manic energy disappeared as he slowed down and became very gentle, taking as much time as needed for each person. Finally, though, Sharon saw that Ryan was getting tired and collected her boys to take him back to his room.

However, just as they were about to leave, a badly-slurred voice came from behind them. "Eye-in." They all turned and saw a young man, his right arm and leg both braced, doggedly moving his wheelchair towards them using his left hand and left foot. Ryan immediately went to him and knelt by his chair. Shivaun and the other staff were watching in amazed silence.

"Michael, did you call me?" he asked quietly, surprise in his voice.

The man nodded. "Esh," he said.

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"Tank-goo," the man said, smiling lopsidely.

Ryan's face split into an enormous grin. "No, thank you," he said shakily, and grabbed the man into a hug. As he leaned back, he said, "I knew you could do it. I knew it. Don't give up, ever. Don't you dare give up. Do that for me?"

The man nodded again. "I 'ill." The staff and other patients surged around him then, huge grins on their faces and loud praise rising. Ryan stepped back, suddenly stumbling over his feet, but George grabbed him quickly and, gathering the others with a look, got them all out of the auditorium and back to Ryan's room, where they quietly let Ryan settle into a chair until he was ready to talk.

Ryan rubbed a hand over his face. "I knew it," he said to himself. "But for him to do it for me..." Tears were running down his face.

"Can you tell us, Ryan?" Sharon said gently. She knew that the encounter with the man had shaken Ryan to the core, but none of them understood why.

"Michael's in the next room," he started. "He's been here for months - I'm not sure how long. In all that time, as I understand it, he's never spoken a word or even tried to speak - he refused to try to talk or make any sound or even to use any of the computers that could talk for him. When I got my guitar back and started playing again, he started coming over to my room whenever he heard me. You saw how hard it is for him to move himself, but he did it, every time. The nurses tried to make him leave me alone but he wouldn't go, so I told them he was welcome to stay. He just stayed here with me, watching me get my fingers working again - and it wasn't easy, let me tell you. I would get very frustrated and want to just give up, but with him watching me, I couldn't. I'd take a deep breath and count to 10 and try again, and every time I did, he'd grin and nod at me. He saw things going better for me all the time. He was here when David was here with me, too, and I think maybe he realized then that I was a professional trying to get back to my job. I guess seeing me not giving up gave him the courage to try. As far as I know, my name is the first thing he's said since his accident." His voice broke. "For him to do that for me - in front of everyone - that took unbelievable courage." He dropped his face into his hands and began to cry quietly.

The others understood now. They knew that fans credited them and their music with bringing them through difficult times, but this was the closest any of them had ever come to seeing it in action.


	30. Chapter 30

Over the next week, Ryan started doing some short runs around the Moy as well as continuing to work on his music. He got a chance to catch up with everyone there, and also got his parents to take him back to the hospital in Belfast. They'd arranged for Dr. Reilly, Fiona, Nadine, and Tim to all be there to see him. It was an emotional reunion, the hospital staff being thrilled to see how well he had recovered and how quickly. Nadine and Fiona were glad to have him sing to them after the mayhem that had resulted after the last time they'd asked him to. Ryan had brought tickets for the show at the Helix for them, having also left some at the rehab hospital, and asked if they could please come to see the show. He was still very nervous about how it would go, but he knew they above all deserved the chance to see him back on the stage.

Ryan's parents drove him to Dublin for rehearsal, as none of them, including Ryan, was comfortable with him driving himself anywhere yet. For his parents, it was something like leaving him at University for the first time, although even more nerve-wracking. But they knew that every single person involved with CT would be watching out for him.

Ryan was glad to get back with everyone again, and a bit nervous about meeting Colm. He still felt bad for calling Colm names all those weeks before, even though he knew that Sharon hadn't told anyone he'd done so. As it happened, they hit it off as friends instantly and it quickly became Colm who would run with Ryan in the mornings - no one was willing to let him run on his own, either. If Colm couldn't do it, Declan would make a special trip in to go with him. The only thing that made Ryan feel like he'd missed something was the close friendship that had developed between Colm and Emmet - it seemed as if they'd known each other forever rather than only 6 weeks. He talked to the other guys about it one day when Colm and Emmet had headed off on their daily Starbucks run.

"What is the deal with those two?" he said, laughing, as the door closed behind them. "I feel like I was gone for a year!"

"Ah, they're just joined at the hip," Keith said off-handedly, messing about with his guitar as usual. "Been like that since the day they met."

George agreed. "It's like they grew up together," he said, shaking his head. "Never seen anything like it."

"If we're all brothers, they're the twins," Neil threw in. "Be interesting to see what the fans make of it once we start touring." They all started laughing at that - as much as they were slagging the two of them, they knew the fans would be doing exactly the same thing.

Ryan let out a happy sigh. "God, it's good to be back with you guys," he said. "You have no idea how much I missed your nonsense. I know you guys missed me, too, but you at least had each other. I can't tell you how many times those recordings you made me kept me sorted out. You must have spent hours recording them."

"It was all worth it if they helped you even once," George said. "We felt awful leaving you behind - in fact, these younger lads were fighting with Sharon about it, at the hospital!"

"Really?" Ryan said. He hadn't heard this story yet. He jumped as Sharon's voice came from behind them.

"Aye," she said, "George had to thunder at them to shut them up." She looked around quickly and seeing that Emmet was not around, said "Emmet even accused me of caring more about money than you!" She laughed at the horrified look on Ryan's face. "Don't worry about it, Ryan, I knew what the real reason was - they were worried you'd have a turn for the worse after we had to leave. Good thing Damian was able to stay for a few days."

"I wish I'd gotten a chance to see him," Ryan said wistfully. "It's nice to know he was able to come, but I didn't even know he was there."

"You did, actually," Keith said.

Ryan looked at him, puzzled. "I was still unconscious," he said. "How could I have known he was there? I don't remember any of you being there, I just know what you and my family told me. I barely remember even being in that hospital, even after I woke up."

"At some level, you knew we were all there," George said. "For a while, if we stopped singing even for a few seconds, it was like you were panicking and your heart rate would go crazy and you'd tense up. They thought you were having seizures when it first started, but you weren't. As long as we kept singing you stayed relaxed."

"Then, later on," Neil continued, "we could stop for a little while, but after a few minutes your heart rate would start to go up slowly, but as soon as we even spoke to you, it would settle right back down. You even smiled one time when Keith pranked me while I was singing to you." He told Ryan the story of what Keith had done to him by making him jump octaves in the middle of a song, making Ryan's mouth twitch just as it happened. "Then as soon as Damian started singing in your room, you got a huge, full smile on your face - just for a second, but it was obvious you knew he was there."

"I wish I could remember it," Ryan said again. "There's still so much missing." He remembered being home now after the ABC tour, but nobody was sure if he actually remembered up until the day he fell.

Keith looked squarely at him. "Be glad you can't remember it," he said seriously. "It was a waking nightmare. AC was, too. Always worrying about you, never knowing what was going to happen next, always scared. It was miserable. The only thing that kept any of us going was the fact that we were all there together."

Ryan looked down. "I'm sorry I put you through -" he started, but George and Sharon cut him off at the same time.

"Don't even go there," George said. "If you passed out on us right now, we'd all be back there again. It was awful, but it wasn't your fault."

"Don't blame yourself, Ryan," Sharon said. "You didn't choose to have that happen, you didn't do anything to make it happen. You had an accident."

"But how do we know it wasn't my fault?" Ryan said quietly. "I don't know what happened and neither does anyone else. Maybe I did something stupid that made me fall."

Keith put down the guitar, came over in front of Ryan, put both hands on his shoulders, and looked him right in the eyes. "Ryan," he said quietly, "Even if you did do something stupid, it's still an accident - unless you've remembered that you were trying to see if you could fly by jumping down the steps. Crap happens. Remember, I'm the one who broke my wrist 2 days before a tour by doing stupid stuff on a skateboard? I could have broken my neck, I was just lucky I didn't. You at least were just walking down the steps and tripped or slipped or something. I know it's what I said that made you feel that way, but that's not what I meant, I wasn't blaming you for it at all. Whatever you do, don't start guilting yourself about it. It's done, it's over, nothing can change it. Just take care of yourself and keep getting better."

Ryan looked deep into Keith's eyes, and couldn't help but smile. There was a calm, steady, confident look there, one that he'd only seen a few times before, but it made him feel sure that Keith was absolutely right, absolutely trustworthy, and that at this moment he was speaking absolute truth. He nodded. "You're right," he said. "It doesn't matter now why it happened. What matters is that we got through it together, and I'm getting better. You may just need to keep reminding me of that once in a while."


	31. Chapter 31

Colm and Emmet chose that moment to come flying back through the door, as if one had pushed the other and then gotten pulled and dragged along. They were laughing like idiots, but stopped and came running over when they saw Keith kneeling in front of Ryan with his hands on Ryan's shoulders.

"You all right, Ry?" Emmet asked in concern.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Colm said.

"I'm fine, guys," Ryan said. "I just needed a little pep talk, that's all."

"Aye," said George. "He's all right, and we'd better get up to the rehearsal room, or David will be after us!"

So far, Ryan had had no trouble with rehearsals as they were primarily working on solo pieces, which meant everybody got a lot of down time. But today they'd been working on ensembles all morning and were now going back to it after lunch. They were trying to nail down the rapid changes in singers and styles for "Voices", which was easily one of the most complicated pieces they'd ever done, and it was finally starting to come together before they took their lunch break. Now they were going back to it again. It all went well for a while, but then Ryan started making mistakes. It didn't worry anyone at first, since they'd all been struggling with it, but he didn't seem to be able to shake it off. Finally David cut them off as they realized that Ryan's voice had been missing, and all looked to see him staring straight ahead again, overwhelmed and unable to keep up with it. Colm started to say something, but David motioned him to silence. Finally, minutes later, Ryan shook his head a little and said,

"Sorry, I got lost for a second." Nobody said anything, and David kept staring at him.

"What?" Ryan finally said.

David looked sternly at him. "I'm waiting for you to ask for the break you clearly need."

"I'm fine!" Ryan said. "I don't need a break!"

"Yes, you do," David said. "You spent 15 of the last 20 minutes messing everything up, and then you disappeared for nearly 5 minutes. You knew you were messing up, I could see you making faces about it. Why didn't you ask for a break?"

"Because I should be able to do this!" Ryan said angrily.

"And soon you will," David said. "But right now you can't, and I'm sending you out. Neil, go with him and make sure he rests. I'll work with these other guys on their parts for 'Turning Away'".

Ryan got up and stalked out the door, Neil hurrying after him. Ryan was muttering the whole way to the lounge and threw himself onto the sofa there, glaring at nothing. Neil sat down across from him, watching him.

"You don't need to keep an eye on me, Neil," Ryan said, still angry. "I'm not a child."

"No, you're not," Neil said steadily. "But you're acting like one."

"What the heck are you talking about? I'm trying to do my job!"

"And not resting when you need to - like a kid refusing to nap. Which is what you really need."

"Oh, come on. This is a waste of time, we've got a lot of work to do!" Ryan started to get up, but Neil was quicker and pushed him back down on the sofa.

"You are staying there." Neil's voice was incredibly serious and quite firm. "This isn't a waste of time. You trying to push yourself when you can't keep your music straight, pushing yourself into an overload, is a waste of time for you and for the rest of us. How does it help to try to practice something you can't remember right because you've pushed yourself too far?"

Ryan's face paled as he took in what Neil had said. "Shit," he muttered. "You're right, it is stupid." The anger returned suddenly. "God, I hate this!" He grabbed a pillow that was lying on the sofa and threw it across the room. "Why did this happen to me? Why now, when I need to be able to get this right?"

"That's not the question you should be asking yourself," Neil said calmly, sitting down again now that it seemed that Ryan was going to stay on the sofa - not that he was resting in any sense of the word. "The question you should be asking yourself is why you aren't handling this like an adult and taking a break when you need one, when you know that break will let you get back to work. Why are you letting your pride get in the way of your better judgment? You don't need to prove anything to us."

Ryan put his head into his hands. "No," he said quietly. "I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm OK. But I'm not yet, am I?"

"Not yet," Neil said gently. "You will be, but you'll get there quicker if you stop trying to overdo it. Now you're going to need to sleep for at least an hour to be able to get back to work. If you'd asked for a break when you started messing up, 15 minutes of quiet would probably have been enough." He got up and walked over to his duffle bag at the side of the room and pulled something out, tossing it to Ryan. It was Ryan's favorite pillow that he always travelled with, which the fans had named Jen.

"What?" Ryan said, catching the pillow reflexively. "How'd you manage to sneak Jen here?"

Neil grinned "Remember when I said I had to go back to the room for something I forgot? I grabbed her then. I figured you'd end up needing a rest at some point today with what was scheduled, and I knew you'd be able to rest better with Jen than with that lumpy old thing you threw across the room."

"Thanks, Neil," Ryan said, settling himself down on the couch. "I'm fine, you can go back to the rehearsal room."

"Are you kidding?" Neil laughed. "Give up an hour break that I was basically ordered to take? Heck, no. I'm hanging out here and letting the others slave."


	32. Chapter 32

As Neil had known he would, Ryan had drifted off to sleep within a few minutes. Neil smiled. They knew each other so well that the other guys could see Ryan's exhaustion even when he was trying to hide it. He and Ryan were sharing a hotel room, and Neil had watched the tiredness creep over Ryan at the end of each day. So far it had hit after they were done rehearsal, but today they'd seen signs of it starting in the morning. He was sure that some of the emotional things that Ryan had gone through today were part of being tired as well. He was usually much more even-tempered.

The smile turned to a frown. Soon they'd be working on choreography as well, and that was going to make things even more difficult. Not to mention the extra filming for the bonus DVD. Neil was firmly in favor of David's strategy of making Ryan responsible for asking for breaks, but at the same time, he knew that Ryan would feel he was inconveniencing the other guys by asking for them. Not that any of them would mind - once they really got into rehearsing a new show, everyone was exhausted, and it wasn't unusual for any of them to fall asleep when they did have down time. A few extra breaks would be welcome.

Neil heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked up. Sharon appeared and looked concerned when she saw Ryan sleeping, motioning Neil over to her. "Is he OK?" she whispered as Neil approached.

"He'll be fine," Neil assured her. "He pushed himself into an overload while we were working on 'Voices', and David sent him out to rest after he refused to admit that he needed a break. It's the same thing he's done all along, trying to prove to himself that he's better than he really is."

"Maybe I should just build some breaks into his schedule anyway," Sharon mused. "He'd been doing fine up until today, so I didn't see the need for it."

"David's made it clear that he considers it Ryan's responsibility to tell us when he needs a break," Neil said. "He got a hard lesson today when he didn't. We...talked after we came out here, and he admitted himself that what he did was stupid."

Sharon smiled. "I'm assuming you mean Ryan had a bit of a temper tantrum and you set him straight," she said knowingly.

"Something like that," Neil agreed. "You know he hates to inconvenience anybody. He's just going to have to deal with it."

"All the same," Sharon said, "I'm going to talk to David and to Belinda as well about mixing up ensemble stuff with solo pieces rather than trying to do all the ensemble work at the same time. It'll probably be better for all of you. And we've got such a mix of solo, duet, quartet and so on with this show that it should be easy to use their time wisely and still allow you all some down time during the day."

"You know none of us will argue about that," Neil grinned. "Not that any of us minds pushing through it when we have to, but if we can manage a little bit of break time, it'll help all of us."

Sharon went on about her business. About half an hour later, the rest of the guys came as quietly down the hall as they could, looking into the lounge as they passed and giving Neil thumbs-ups and smiles when they saw Ryan sleeping. Within a few minutes, Ryan started to wake up - "as quietly as they could", where the guys were concerned, wasn't really all that quiet even when they were trying hard.

Ryan sat up and stretched, yawning. "Still here?" he asked Neil. "How long was I out?"

"Just about an hour, like I said," Neil grinned.

Ryan chucked Jen at him, laughing. "OK, so you know everything," he said. "Was I still dreaming, or did I hear the thundering herd go past a few minutes ago?"

"They tried to be quiet, but you know us," Neil laughed. "Yeah, David must have given them a break a few minutes ago. You ready to go find them?"

"Sure. They're probably outside since the weather's nice."

He was right. The guys were lounging in the sun outside. George spotted them first. "Feeling better, brother?" he asked, coming over to clap Ryan on the shoulder.

Ryan smiled up at him. "Much," he agreed. Looking at all of them, he said "I'm sorry for wasting your time in there."

"You didn't..." Emmet started, but Ryan cut him off.

"Yes, I did. Neil pointed out to me that it doesn't do any of us any good for me to try to keep practicing when I'm too tired to keep my music straight. It just holds all of us back. I promise I'll try to do a better job of taking care of myself as stuff gets more intense. I think I forgot how tough it can get."

"We all forget it," Keith groaned. "Otherwise why would we keep coming back to it? Poor Colm's just finding out how tough it can be; even with having to jump into AC as fast as he did." He grinned at their new member, who was leaning against the sun-warmed wall looking like he was about to doze off himself.

"I'm all right," Colm said sleepily, and then nearly fell as his body went limp on him suddenly. Emmet grabbed him and sat him down on the sidewalk, then sat down next to him.

Scrubbing his face with his hands, Emmet yawned and then said, "Now I understand the Starbucks addiction. It's the only way to get through this." Since they'd filmed "Voyage" on the road, they hadn't done all the extra stuff that needed to be done at the same time like this. Even then, pre-tour rehearsals had been tough. "How much longer are we going tonight?"

"Dinner break soon," Keith said. "Then a few more hours, I think." He yawned hugely. "I'm glad we've got hotel beds and not bunks," he groaned.

"Ah, quit griping," Ryan said. "At least we've got bunks."

"That bounce around," Keith groaned dramatically. Which led to the others cuffing him around the head and shoulders, as they'd all (other than Colm) heard it more times than they could count. They knew Keith loved touring, but he would never shut up about how much he hated the bunks on the bus.


	33. Chapter 33

Sharon's idea for switching up the schedule worked well, and Ryan was doing better about asking for breaks - although someone would still occasionally need to catch his eye and mouth "Break time" at him when he was doggedly trying to keep up. He'd grin sheepishly and nod, then ask for the break and rest for a while. He was getting the music down; it was only when he was tired that he couldn't hold onto it.

Soon they started choreography rehearsals, working this time in a large sports center. This turned out to work very well. As in the rehab hospital, Ryan found working out relaxing rather than stressful, so during his breaks he would often go down to the gym or to the basketball court, where he could let his brain rest but keep working on regaining his strength. As always, someone was always with him, but he found he didn't mind. He'd missed everyone so much while they were in AC that just having them there, even if they weren't talking, was welcome.

The hardest part was, actually, hauling Keith out of the pool when he needed to rehearse. If they couldn't find him, he was always there. One day he was 10 minutes late and Ryan, Emmet and Colm went in search of him. Just as they stepped into the pool area, they heard a slight splash. Looking around, it looked like the pool was empty, but the lifeguard saw them searching, and grinning, pointed down at the deep end.

"I think he saw you coming," the lifeguard said, having been there several times before when they'd come to retrieve their errant friend. Walking up to the edge of the pool, they saw Keith lounging easily on the bottom, looking and waving up at them with a huge grin. Colm's eyes bugged out.

"How the hell is he doing that?" he said, surprised. The others just laughed, having seen Keith pull all manner of underwater tricks in various pools, lakes, and oceans during their travels. "What is he, part fish?"

"Dolphin, I think," said the lifeguard.

"Seal is my guess," Ryan said.

"Nah, sea otter," Emmet put in.

"Regardless," Colm said, "How are we supposed to get him out?"

"That'll take care of itself," Ryan grinned. "He can't hold his breath forever."

He was proven right almost immediately. Keith suddenly shifted so both feet were on the bottom of the pool and gave a huge push, rocketing himself up out of the water. He caught the edge of the pool as he came up and turned to sit on it neatly - bringing a wave of water with him that engulfed the guys' feet.

"Hey," they all yelled, jumping to try to keep their feet dry, but to no avail. He'd managed to soak all of their shoes at once. They all made a move to grab him and drag him to the locker room, but the lifeguard stopped them.

"No horseplay on my pool deck," he warned them, grinning. "Find another way to get him out of here."

"How about I go get Sharon?" Colm suggested.

"Better idea," said Emmet, who knew perfectly well that Keith could easily turn off Sharon's anger by charming her unless he'd done something really horrendous. "Keith," he said, "Belinda told us to tell you that the later you are, the longer you'll have to stay back and work with her while the rest of us get our lunch break." Keith was out of the pool and heading to the locker room like a shot. He was dressed and back out almost before the other 4 (including the lifeguard) had stopped laughing. As they headed out the door, Colm gave Emmet a high 5 behind Keith's back.


	34. Chapter 34

The time was rapidly approaching for filming. They'd been doing the "Making of" and "My Land" filming in bits and pieces, which was easy for Ryan as they could do it in small takes. After watching the first day of film, though, they'd gone back and done those bits with Ryan wearing a blazer - his arms were still so thin that they were afraid they'd scare the fans. They'd started running through the whole show from start to finish. Ryan was holding down his full expected number of pieces, and doing well with it. They'd set up a quiet area backstage where he could go between numbers if he needed to, and finally, he was using it regularly without needing to be reminded. There were always one or two things that would throw him off, so they were all still concerned about the actual filming. Especially when Colm caught him off guard with a question, pretending to interview the other guys as they were getting made up, goofing for the backstage camera. Ryan froze for a split second and Colm held his breath, hoping he hadn't created a problem - but then Ryan was able to get the answer out and everyone relaxed again. Then again, it was normal for them to have to do multiple takes of the same song when filming; either somebody would mess up or somebody would do something silly. Even the roadies got into it; they had to redo one of Keith's songs because his roadie had gotten hold of a mic and was out in the audience saying Keith's name over and over into Keith's in-ears, drowning out his music.

But overall, the filming shows went well. All of the staff who had worked with Ryan from the Belfast hospital and the rehab hospital had been able to come on the same night, and they had spent a lot of time before the show filling each other in on their respective experiences with the guys, as well as catching up with Ryan's parents.

When they were all in their seats and the lights went down, there was a collective murmur of anticipation. The cheers when the singers came out startled some of the staff, but when the lights came up and they saw all the guys, including Ryan, standing strong and confident, singing enthusiastically, they broke into smiles of amazed pride - especially as "Voices" got more and more complex and Ryan kept right up with it. None of them had anticipated anything this complicated. The cognitive therapist from the rehab hospital was shaking his head as the song ended.

"What?" Shivaun said in his ear, grinning.

"I'd have never thought he'd be able to keep up with something like that," the man said.

"I know," Shivaun agreed. Dr. Reilly, sitting next to her, was staring open-mouthed at the guys as they left the stage.

"My goodness," he said. "I've heard every one of those men singing and I never anticipated something like that out of them. You know they used to sing to him in the ICU all the time, but that was nothing compared to this."

"I've heard," Shivaun said. "Did they really sing to him for 2 weeks?"

"Almost every minute of it," Fiona, Tim and Nadine assured her from the row behind them. Fiona added, "I heard Neil and Keith harmonizing once, but all of them together is so far beyond that that it's hard to imagine it was the same guys in our ICU."

Every time Ryan came on stage, they held their collective breaths until he was done - but they needn't have worried. As the sheer number of his pieces started adding up, they were even more amazed. It was clear he was taking his full part in the show and handling it very well. "House of the Rising Sun", somehow, seemed to be the song that all of his joy and triumph concentrated into. By the time he flung his head back and sang to the rafters at the end of the song, there wasn't a dry eye amongst the staff that had worked with him. They all agreed, afterwards, that his recovery was little short of a miracle.

Normally it was only family and friends that were invited to the after party, but all of the hospital staff were invited as well. It was a joyous reunion, on all sides. Ryan's friend Michael had wanted to come, but it was much too far a trip for him out of the hospital yet. He had, however, sent a video of himself with Shivaun - talking to Ryan himself, telling him how his therapy was going. That required all the guys to take Ryan off into a corner for a few minutes to get him back together - and then he sent Michael a video back, promising him a copy of all the filming they'd done as soon as possible.

Once the filming was done and the tour started, things slowly got more and more back to normal. Ryan still had a few overloads, but they gradually disappeared, the last one happening on Halloween morning when they were awakened by Emmet's calls for help when Keith had cut his wrist on broken glass. When the tour was done, Neil and Ryan took off on their own to do eleven more Acoustic By Candlelight shows before they headed home for Christmas. It was a much happier holiday than anyone in the Moy, CT, or the fan family had been able to imagine 6 months before.


End file.
